The Glo Movie Night: The Watermelon Woman (1996)

Join us for our quarterly GLO Center Movie Night event on Saturday, July 18 at 4:00 PM. This FREE event is brought to you by The GLO Center as part of our mission to foster connection and celebrate LGBTQ+ stories.

Cheryl Dunye made cinematic history with The Watermelon Woman, the first American feature to be directed by a black lesbian as well as an incisive, humorous critique of classic Hollywood's racist stereotypes. Dunye plays an eponymous video store employee and burgeoning filmmaker who sets out to make a documentary on the Watermelon Woman (Lisa Marie Bronson), an actress who specialized in "mammy" roles for Hollywood productions of the 30s and 40s. As Cheryl uncovers the Watermelon Woman's identity she not only learns about a secret behind-the-scenes interracial romance but also begins one of her own with Diana (Guinevere Turner), a white woman who arouses the ire of Cheryl's best friend Tamara (Valerie Walker). A landmark of the New Queer Cinema, The Watermelon Woman testifies to the power of excavating legacies of oppression and in the process creates a progressive legacy of its own. [Janus]

Starring: Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker
Director: Cheryl Dunye
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance