The Watermelon Woman

The Watermelon Woman (1996) was written and directed by Cheryl Dunye. Dunye also stars. The film introduction included the information that this was the first movie to be directed by an openly lesbian Black director.

We learned that Dunye was a film student who wanted to make a documentary about Black women in 1930's movies. Except for movies made for Black audiences, Black women were invariably cast as servants or slaves. Very often their names didn't appear in the movie credits.

Rather than actually doing the documentary, Dunye made a narrative film about a woman (herself) trying to make the documentary. It sounds strange, but it makes sense when you're watching it.

We saw the movie at Rochester's wonderful Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum. It will work well enough on the small screen. It's not a movie for everyone, but it's an important film, and worth seeing.