© The Watermelon Woman

Set in Philadelphia, The Watermelon Woman is the story of Cheryl (Cheryl Dunye), a twentysomething black lesbian struggling to make a documentary about Fae Richards, a beautiful and elusive 1930s 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, Go Fish), 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.

At the film’s conclusion, the Watermelon Woman is clearly a metaphor for Cheryl’s search for identity, community, and love.

Directed By Cheryl Dunye, 1996, 83 minutes

Cheryl Dunye is a Liberian-American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress.

Dunye's work often concerns themes of race, sexuality, and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians. She is known as the first out black lesbian to ever direct a feature film with her 1996 film The Watermelon Woman. She runs the production company Jingletown Films based in Oakland, California.

According to Dunye, much about the character she plays in the film is autobiographical, but the historical references to the Watermelon Woman are fictional: “The Watermelon Woman came from the real lack of any information about the lesbian and film history of African-American women. Since it wasn’t happening, I invented it.”

Free

Location:

The Ondaatje Wing Theatre
National Portrait Gallery
St. Martin's Pl,
London WC2H 0HE

Text and pictures, copyright national portrait gallery and the artist