The Watermelon Woman

+ intro by Wema Mumma, BFI Flare programmer

Approaching its 30th birthday, this is a landmark of the New Queer Cinema of the 1990s.

  • Director

    Cheryl Dunye

  • With

    Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker

  • USA 1996. 84min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    15

Cheryl, a fledgling Black lesbian filmmaker sets out to make a documentary about Faith Richardson, a lost cinematic ancestor glimpsed in the race films of the 1930s. This landmark of 1990s New Queer Cinema finds filmmaker Dunye also taking the lead. The film is an ode to love, community and the past, touching on the complexities of interracial queer relationships and revealing much about Dunye’s own motivations.

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BFI Flare