Set in Philadelphia, THE WATERMELON WOMAN is the story of Cheryl (Cheryl Dunye), a twenty-something black lesbian struggling to make a documentary about Fae Richards, a beautiful and elusive 1930’s black film actress popularly known as “The Watermelon Woman.”
While uncovering the meaning of Fae Richards’ life, Cheryl experiences a total upheaval in her personal life. Her love affair with Diana (Guinevere Turner), a beautiful white woman, and her interactions with the gay and black communities are subject to the comic yet biting criticism of her best friend Tamara (Valarie Walker). Meanwhile, each answer Cheryl discovers about the Watermelon Woman evokes a flurry of new questions about herself and her future.
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THE OWLS follows members of The Screech, once the hottest lesbian band around. But the mighty musicians have fallen into obscurity and unanticipated turmoil. Iris dreams of a comeback and drinks too much. MJ is her ex, but neither of them can quite let go. Former bandmate Lily and her partner Carol aren’t getting along—so, naturally, they’re trying to have a child together. When a pool party goes horribly wrong, a shocking event knocks these longtime friends and lovers even further out of orbit. Generations collide with dangerous results for these Older, Wiser Lesbians or “OWLs."
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BLACK IS BLUE is a short narrative that tells the story of Black—an African American Transman, who works as a security guard inside an apartment complex in present day Oakland, California.
A feature film version of this 2014 short film from Ceryl Dunye is now in development.
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Director Cheryl Dunye, a native of Liberia, received her BA from Temple University and her MFA from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School Of Arts.
Dunye has served on the Director’s Guild of America’s Independent Council and on the advisory board for New York’s Independent Film Project’s Gordon Parks Award. She was also a mentor for IFP/West Project Involve, and a board member of Los Angeles OutFest. Presently, she is a member of the Board of Directors for the Queer Cultural Center,and sits on the board of Radar Productions, as well as the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project.
In addition, Dunye has received grants from the Astraea Foundation, Frameline, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Rockefeller Foundation. She has been honored with the prestigious Anonymous was a Woman Award, as well as a lifetime achievement award from Girlfriend’s Magazine.
Based in Oakland, Dunye is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cinema at San Francisco State University.