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Resume

Films by Cheryl Dunye

Cheryl Dunye Interview

Education

1992 MFA, Rutgers University; New Brunswick, NJ
1990 BA, Temple University; Philadelphia, PA

Committees

2003 Gordon Parks Award for Emerging African American Filmmakers
Director's s Guild of America, Independent Directors Council
IFP/ West Project Involve Mentor

Cheryl Dunye
Director - Screenwriter

Temple University
9C Annenberg Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19144

215-204-1885
info@cheryldunye.com

Major Prizes and Grants

2004 Community Vision Award, National Center for Lesbian Rights

2003 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, Film/Video Nominee

2002 Creteil International Festival of Women's Cinema; Audience Award
London International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival; Best Feature Award
Best Director Nominee; Independent Spirit Awards
Girlfriends Magazine; Lifetime Achievement Award

2001 Los Angeles OUTFEST; Audience Award
San Francisco International Film Festival; Audience Award
Philadelphia Film Festival; Audience Award
Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival; Special Jury Award

2000 Girlfriends Magazine; Best Director Award

1999 Pew Charitable Trusts / MacArthur Foundation Artist Residency,
Walker Art Center

1998 Rockefeller Foundation, Media Fellowship

1997 Whitney Museum of American Art; Biennial
Anonymous Was A Woman Award

1996 Berlin International Film Festival; Teddy Award
Creteil International Festival of Women's Cinema; Audience Award
Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival; Audience Award
Los Angeles 1996 OUTFEST; Audience Award
Frameline; Film & Video Completion Grant

1995 Film Video Arts Inc.; Artist Mentor Residency Award
The Rockefeller Foundation; Nominee
Hamburg Lesbian & Gay Film Festival; Ursula Award

1995 New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
Vito Russo Filmmaker Award
National Endowments for the Arts; Media Production Award

1994 Headlands Center for the Arts; Residency
Experimental Television Center; Residency
Pew Fellowship for the Arts; Discipline Winner

1993 Whitney Museum of American Art; Biennial
MARMAF Pennsylvania Major Artist Award
The Rockefeller Foundation; Nominee

1992 Art Matters Inc.; Fellowship
Frameline; Film & Video Completion Grant
Pew Charitable Trusts; Flaherty Film Seminar Residency
Astraea Foundation; Artist Grant

1991 National Endowment for the Arts; New Forms Regional Grant
Independent Images: TV 12 WHYY Inc.; Fine Cut Winner

1990 Ralphe J. Bunche Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

Teaching

Temple University
FMA, School of Communications and Theater, Associate Professor, 2003-Present
University of California
Los Angeles, Adjunct Faculty, Department of Film and Television, 1998-2000
University of California
Riverside, Department of Art, Adjunct Faculty, 1997-2000
Pitzer College
Media Studies, Non-Tenure Faculty, 1996-2000
Claremont Graduate School
Department of Art, Visiting Faculty, 1999
Pomona College
Department of English, Visiting Faculty, 1997
California Institute of the Arts.
Visiting Faculty, 1996
The New School of Social Research
School of Communications, Adjunct Faculty, 1994-1995
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Department of Video, Visiting Faculty, 1994

Productions, Screenings and Exhibitions

My Baby's Daddy 90 minutes, 35mm, color, sound 2004.
Miramax Films. Comedy. PG-13. Eddie Griffin, Anthony Anderson, Michael Imperioli. Dunye's third feature, tells the story of three bachelor buddies from the hood who, after a lifetime of hard-partying, experience a crude awakening when their respective girlfriends all get pregnant at the same time. The fathers-to-be embark on an emotional journey while learning as much about themselves as they do about love and fatherhood.

Stranger Inside 90 minutes, 35mm, color, sound, 2000.
HBO Films. Unrated. Dunye's second feature is the story of Treasure Lee (Yolanda Ross), a young African American woman who has moved out of 'juvenile' prison to the State Pen in search of Brownie (Davenia Mc Fadden) the mother she never knew. Based on four years of research into the lives of incarcerated women, the film is an authentic study of American prison life in the 21st century. Once again Dunye creatively mixes documentary and narrative filmmaking styles. Also featured are images from Dunye's collaboration with renowned photographer Catherine Opie.

Screenings (partial listing / non theatrical)
Sundance Film Festival
Africa in the Picture, The Netherlands
Creteil Festival of Women's Cinema, Paris
Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema
London Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
Seattle Film Festival
Women in the Director's Chair
Berlin Lesbian Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival
Acapulco Film Festival

Awards
Creteil International Festival of Women's Cinema; Audience Award
London International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival; Best Feature Award
Best Director Nominee; Independent Spirit Awards
Los Angeles OUTFEST; Audience Award
San Francisco International Film Festival; Audience Award
Philadelphia Film Festival; Audience Award
Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival; Special Jury Award

The Watermelon Woman 90 minutes, 16mm b/w, color, sound, 1996.
Produced by Barry Swimar (Paris is Burning) and Alexandra Juhasz, Dunye's debut feature follows Cheryl, played by herself, as she struggles to make a video-documentary about a beautiful 1930's film actress popularly know as "the Watermelon Woman." The film features many notables from the lesbian and gay community including: Guin Turner (Go Fish), Sarah Schulman, Camille Paglia and highlights the photography of Zoe Leonard. The film is distributed in the U.S. by First Run Features.

Screenings (partial listing / non theatrical)
Whitney Museum of American Art, Biennial
Hong Kong Film Festival
Amsterdam Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Tokyo Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
International Berlin Film Festival
Creteil Festival of Women's Cinema, Paris
Torino Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Italy
Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema
London Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
Feminale Women's Film Festival
Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, China

Awards
Teddy Award; Berlin International Film Festival
Audience Award; Creteil International Festival of Women's Cinema
Audience Award; Torino International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Audience Award; Los Angeles OUTFEST
Completion Grant; Frameline
Media Production Award; National Endowment of the Arts
Vito Award; New York International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

Greetings From Africa 8 minutes, 16mm b/w, color, sound, 1994.
Produced by Good Machine Inc. and Cheryl Dunye, Greeting from Africa mixes film with video as Cheryl, played by herself, humorously experiences the mysteries of lesbian dating in the 90's. Distributed by Women Make Movies.

Screenings (partial listing / non theatrical)
Amsterdam Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Freiburg Lesbenfilmtage
Independent Film Channel
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
International Berlin Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
Hong Kong Film Festival
Women in the Director's Chair
Torino International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
OUTFEST Los Angeles
New York International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
MIX NY Experimental Lesbian and Gay Film/Video Festival
San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema
16th Independent Feature Film Market
Toronto International Film Festival

Awards
Ursula Award for Best Short Film, Lesbisch-Schule Filmtage Hamburg
MARMAF Pennsylvania Major Artist Award

An Untitled Portrait 3 minute 1/2" videotape. Video Montage, 1993.
A short reflective video about Dunye's relationship with her brother. A mixture of appropriated black film footage, super 8mm home movies & the popular Dunye humor give this video a heartfelt tone.

Screenings (partial listing / non theatrical)
Amsterdam Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Freiburg Lesbenfilmtage
Berlin Lesbian Film Festival
Image Film Festival, Toronto
Out on the Screen, Vancouver
San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
OUTFEST, Los Angeles
Chicago International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
New York Experimental Lesbian and Gay Film/Video Festival

Awards
Discipline Winner; Pew Fellowship for the Arts
Nominee; The Rockefeller Foundation

The Potluck And The Passion 30 minute videotape. Experimental Narrative, 1993.
A video exploring racial, sexual and social politics at a lesbian potluck. The video challenges tradition narrative presentation through the use of direct address talking heads, pseudo-documentary, and humor.

Screenings (partial listing / non theatrical)
Amsterdam Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Freiburg Lesbenfilmtage
The Whitney Museum of American Art
Berlin Lesbian Film Festival
Moving Image Center, New Zealand
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center
Feminale, Koln, Germany
Chicago International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
The Museum of Modern Art
Melbourne Queer Film and Video Festival
Brooklyn Art Museum
Museum of Contemporary Art, NY
Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art
Out in Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
MIX NY Experimental Lesbian and Gay Film/Video Festival
Women in the Director's Chair Film & Video Festival, IL
The Museum of Modern Art, NY

Awards
Biennial; Whitney Museum of American Art
Completion Grant; Frameline
Fine Cut Winner; TV 12 WHYY's Independent Images

She Don't Fade 24 minute videotape. Experimental Narrative, 1991.
A video which takes a self-reflexive look at the sexuality of a young black lesbian. The video experiments with both narrativity and documentary.

Screenings (partial listing / non theatrical)
Channel Four Television, London
Donnell Media Center of the New York Public Libraries
Out In Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
Museum of Contemporary Art, NY
Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art
Boston Museum of Fine Art
Feminale, Koln, Germany
Walker Arts Center
Institute of Contemporary Art, London
San Francisco International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Philadelphia Neighborhood Film and Video Project
Independent Images, TV 12 WHYY Philadelphia

Awards
Production Fellowship; Art Matters Inc

Janine 10 minute videotape. Experimental Documentary, 1990.
A video about a black lesbian's relationship with a white, upper middle class girl from high school. Through direct address and visual metaphor the video examines class, race and sexual difference.

Screenings (partial listing / non theatrical)
Amsterdam Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Berlin Lesbian Film Festival
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Donnell Media Center of the New York Public Libraries
Boston Museum of Fine Art
New York International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
San Francisco International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

Publications

"Don't Even Talk To Me Till I've Had My Coffy" in Time Out,
Issue 101, August 28-Sept. 4, 1997, page 76.

The Richards Photo Archive. San Francisco:
Art Space Books, 1997, with photographer Zoe Leonard.

"Vanilla Sex" in The Wild Good editor Beatrix Gates,
Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1996, page 39.

"The Fae Richards Photo Archive"
in Parkett, No. 47 / 1996, Insert Edition.

"Possessed" in Bad Girls,
The New Museum of Contemporary Art, The MIT Press, 1994, page 109-113.

"Building Subjects" in Movement Research Performance Arts Journal,
No. 4, Spring 1992, page 18.

:(Re)Position" in Felix, a journal of media arts & communication,
Vol. 1, No. 2, Spring, 1992, page 24-26.

>> Dunye Filmography <<

the Watermelon Woman    |    Stranger Inside    |    My Baby's Daddy

Untitled Portrait    |    the Potluck and the Passion    |    She Don't Fade    |    Janine    |    Greetings from Africa

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Cheryl Dunye
Director - Screenwriter

US   -   Temple University, 9C Annenberg Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19144  
NL
  -   Vondelstraat 49 Amsterdam 1054 GJ   -   PH: 31206169822

e-mail: info@cheryldunye.com

©2000-2005 Cheryl Dunye