The Watermelon Woman

(1996) dir Cheryl Dunye w/Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker, Lisa Marie Bronson [90 min, DCP]
Cheryl (Dunye) is a twenty-something black lesbian working as a clerk in a video store while struggling to make a documentary about Fae Richards, an obscure black actress from the 1930’s. Cheryl is surprised to discover that Richards (known popularly only as “the Watermelon Woman”) had a white lesbian lover. At the same time, Cheryl finds herself falling for a cute white customer at the video store (Turner). Such are the complexities of race and sex in this startlingly fresh debut, which was attacked by conservatives for having been funded by the NEA and praised by critics for being charming and courageous.