The Watermelon Woman by Cheryl Dunye, 85 Minutes, Color Produced by Barry Swimar and Alexandra Juhasz
						Cheryl, a young black woman working in a video store, is making a documentary about an obscure black actress (known as "the Watermelon Woman") who had a white lesbian lover. Cheryl just happens to fall in love with a very cute white woman herself! Attacked by conservative Congressmen and lavishly praised by audiences for being charming and courageous, The Watermelon Woman is a startlingly fresh debut - smart, sexy, and funny.
		"Funny, adventurous, wonderful!" -New York Times Read More Reviews

				View a clip from "The Watermelon Woman" Order "The Watermelon Woman" Video from FirstRunFeatures.com
		"Throwaway moment[s], which [are] played more for comedy than for political incitement, [are] typical of the film's refusal to bop you over the head with angry rhetoric. It lets you find your own way to its central message about cultural history and the invisibility of those shunted to the margins." Read More Reviews
			Set in Philadelphia, The Watermelon Woman is the story of Cheryl, a 20-something black lesbian struggling to make a documentary about Fae Richards, a beautiful and elusive 1930s black film actress, popularly known as "The Watermelon Woman."
					While uncovering the meaning of Fae Richards' life, Cheryl experiences a total upheaval in her personal life. Her love affair with Diana, a beautiful white woman, and her interactions with the gay and black communities are subject to the comic yet biting criticism of her best friend Tamara. Meanwhile, each answer Cheryl discovers about the Watermelon Woman evokes a flurry of new questions. View a clip from "The Watermelon Woman"

		"A breezy, faux-cinema-verite, ...the movie ...walks a fine line between serious intellectual inquiry and outright spoof. That it succeeds in being both stimulating and funny is a testament to the talent and open-heartedness of Ms. Dunye...." Read More Reviews
				According to writer/director Cheryl Dunye, much about the character she plays in the film is autobiographical, but the historical references to the Watermelon Woman are fictional: "The Watermelon Woman came from the real lack of any information about the lesbian and film history of African-American women. Since it wasn't happening, I invented it."
					Says Stephen Holden in his New York Times review, "The politics of gender and multiculturalism, with their prickly debates about who is entitled to tell whose story, are twitted with such good-humored cheek in Cheryl Dunye's mock documentary, The Watermelon Woman, that feathers will undoubtedly be ruffled. Order "The Watermelon Woman" Video from FirstRunFeatures.com

		"Unlike Dadetown, another recent fake documentary, The Watermelon Woman doesn't bend over backward to fool you into thinking you're seeing the real thing. The vintage movie stills and scratchy black-and-white film clips of Fae [Richards] look too contemporary and are too broadly acted to seem genuine...." Read More Reviews
			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 currently being theatrically distributed in the U.S. by First Run Features. SCREENINGS (partial listing / non theatrical) Whitney Museum of American Art, Biennial, 1997 Hong Kong Film Festival, 1997 Amsterdam Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, 1997 Frieburg Lesbenfilmtage, 1997 Tokyo Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, 1997 International Berlin Film Festival, 1996 Cretiel Festival of Women's Cinema, Paris, 1996 Torino Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Italy, 1996 Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, 1996 London Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, 1996 New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, 1996 San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, 1996 Toronto International Film Festival, 1996 Feminale Women's Film Festival, 1996 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, China, 1996 AWARDS Teddy Award; Berlin International Film Festival, 1996 Audience Award; Cretiel International Festival of Women's Cinema, 1996 Audience Award; Torino International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, 1996 Audience Award; Los Angeles OUTFEST, 1996 Completion Grant; Frameline, 1995 Media Production Award; National Endowment of the Arts, 1995 Vito Award; New York International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, 1995

		>> 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

		Home    |    e-mail    |    Biography    |    Resume    |    Events    |    Links    |    Guestbook    |    Order    |    Films
		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