The Watermelon Woman

A landmark of Black Queer Cinema, The Watermelon Woman follows Cheryl, a young black lesbian, as she investigates a forgotten actress from 1930s Hollywood. Her search exposes how black queer women have been erased from film history. Cheryl’s journey becomes a film within a film – a powerful, self-reflexive act of reclamation. Dunye blurs fact and fiction to challenge archival silences, asking: what if history must be imagined? This is a radical act of resistance, asserting black lesbian presence in a canon that has long refused to see it.