The Watermelon Woman
Cheryl Dunye · 1996
Cheryl Dunye’s 1996 debut is a mockumentary about a Black lesbian filmmaker researching a fictional 1930s Black actress — ‘The Watermelon Woman’ — erased from film history. Blending interviews, staged archive photos by Zoe Leonard, and autobiographical elements, it exposes how race, sexuality and institutional power shape what gets preserved — and what must be invented to survive.