February 1996 (1996-02) (Berlin International Film Festival)
March 5, 1997 (1997-03-05) (U.S.)
Running time
90 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$300,000[2]
The Watermelon Woman is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film written, directed, and edited by Cheryl Dunye. The first feature film directed by a black lesbian,[3][4] it stars Dunye as Cheryl, a young black lesbian working a day job in a video store while trying to make a film about Fae Richards, a black actress from the 1930s known for playing the stereotypical "mammy" roles relegated to black actresses during the period.
The Watermelon Woman was produced on a budget of $300,000, financed by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), as well as a fundraiser, and donations from friends of Dunye. The film was partly inspired by and dedicated to the memory of such Black actresses as Louise Beavers, Hattie McDaniel, and Butterfly McQueen.[5][6] Fae Richards is a fictional character created by Dunye for the film as both an amalgamation of and stand-in for Black actresses sidelined or forgotten in film history, and as a result of the film's budget being unable to afford archive footage of real-life actresses.[6]
The Watermelon Woman premiered at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival. The film received generally positive reviews and is considered a landmark in New Queer Cinema.[7] It garnered controversy for a lesbian sex scene that prompted a writer for The Washington Times to question its NEA funding, which in turn led to the NEA restructuring their grant system. In 2021, The Watermelon Woman was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[8]
^"The Watermelon Woman (1996): Crew". AllMovie. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
^Cite error: The named reference CDI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference LS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference PK was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference FR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abOloukoï, Chrystel (February 27, 2021). "The Watermelon Woman at 25: the Black lesbian classic that wears its brilliance lightly". BFI.org.uk. British Film Institute. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
^Cite error: The named reference kelsey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Tartaglione, Nancy (December 14, 2021). "National Film Registry Adds Return Of The Jedi, Fellowship Of The Ring, Strangers On A Train, Sounder, WALL-E & More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
and 20 Related for: The Watermelon Woman information
TheWatermelonWoman is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film written, directed, and edited by Cheryl Dunye. The first feature film directed by a...
Thewatermelon stereotype is an anti-Black racist trope originating in the Southern United States. It first arose as a backlash against African American...
lesbians. She is known as the first out black lesbian to ever direct a feature film with her 1996 film TheWatermelonWoman. She runs the production company...
Dunye's 1996 independent film TheWatermelonWoman. Turner and I Shot Andy Warhol director Mary Harron wrote the screenplay for the film version of Bret Easton...
(1996) Walking and Talking (1996) TheWatermelonWoman (1996)≈ Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996) When We Were Kings (1996) The Apostle (1997) Chasing Amy (1997)...
Memoirs of a WatermelonWoman featured a production archive from queer filmmaker Cheryl Dunye's making of the film TheWatermelonWoman in 1996. The exhibition...
Mexico, the record was red, and in France it was honey colored. The song was used in the films At Close Range, Barcelona, TheWatermelonWoman, Contact...
romantic comedy Go Fish (1994) and the first film about African American lesbians, Cheryl Dunye's TheWatermelonWoman, in 1995. Realism in films depicting...
Lesbians". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2022. Keough, Peter (May 1997). "TheWatermelonWoman refreshes"...
This is a list of interracial romance films. The films in this list satisfy the following requirements: A professional critic or film scholar has identified...
and the Devil, National Velvet James Cameron: The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic John Cassavetes: Shadows, Faces, A Woman Under the Influence...
The angry black woman stereotype is a racial stereotype of Black American women as pugnacious, poorly mannered, and aggressive. Among stereotypes of groups...
though, in the end, Vivian must return home. TheWatermelonWoman (1996) is a feature film directed and written by Cheryl Dunye that explores the history...
trailer painted like a watermelon. This draws in a number of odd characters who bug him, including a romantic interest, a woman on the run from her psycho...
(1996) Walking and Talking (1996) TheWatermelonWoman (1996)≈ Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996) When We Were Kings (1996) The Apostle (1997) Chasing Amy (1997)...
2021) TysonPlus' Boys Hurt Too (US 2021) TysonPlus' My Relationship with Death (US 2021) Unclassified The Series (US 2017) Woman of Atlanta TV (US 2016)...
2018-10-25. "one woman show". jamie loftus. Retrieved 2018-10-15. ""Shrek Nudes" for Planned Parenthood". The Packie. 2015-12-01. Archived from the original on...
This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release...
Laura Poitras: ExpandOurField.pdf TheWatermelonWoman, or What Happened to New Queer Cinema: 'TheWatermelonWoman', or, Whatever Happened to New Queer...
Global Information