Buy The Watermelon Woman on DVD

The Watermelon Woman

DVD

More Info

Usually ships in
5-10 days

$17.99 (10% off)
List Price: ~~$19.99~~

When new special editions or price reductions are announced.

Synopsis

Cheryl (writer/director Cheryl Dunye), a young black woman working in a video store, s making a documentary about an obscure black actress from the 1930's. When she discovers that the actress (known as "the Watermelon Woman") had a white lesbian lover, Cheryl just happens to fall in love with a very cute white woman herself!

Attacked by conservative Congressmen, winner of multiple audience awards in major film festivals and lavishly praised by audiences for being charming and courageous, this startlingly fresh debut is, according to B. Ruby Rich of the San Francisco Bay Guardian "a wonderfully inventive journey through the annals of film history, African American culture, dyke attitudes, race relations and the mysteries of lesbian attraction. Did I mention this is a comedy too?"

3 Reasons To buy this film

First feature from talent Cheryl Dunye
Stars the delicious Guin Turner.
An award winning classic lesbian film.

Review

This, the first African-American lesbian feature film, is a fascinating, effervescent tale of love discovered and history uncovered. Director Dunye plays an aspiring filmmaker (and current video store employee) who becomes obsessed with an African-American actress from the 1930s and '40s -- a beautiful and seemingly intellgent woman whose roles were limited to "mammie"-type characters. Along Dunye's seach for more information on the real woman, she finds love (or is that simply lust?) in the arms of a white woman, further complicating her life. Low budget yet ambitious, intelligent and entertaining.

Product Format Information

DVD : $17.99

Availability: Usually ships in
5-10 days
Region Code: 1
UPC: 720229909273
Catalog #: DV1204371

Studio : First Run Features

Features:
DVD has stereo sound and contains an interview with Dunye. It's presented full-frame.

Customer Reviews

brilliant!

guiseppi wrote on 08/25/2001:

this is an incredibly talented and moving film--a must for gay and lesbian audiences. I often use it in courses I teach at university level on gay and lesbian culture: the cross of issues of sexuality, gender, interraciality, the search for a queer history and for role-models if you are a minority whose history has been largely repressed or erased, and the film's "recovery" of a lost age of black production cinema make this a wonderful pedadogical tool. My students love it. The "created" 1930s footage and stills is aesthetically perfect. There's a kind of "detective" format to the wanna-be filmmaker's search for the elusive "Watermelon Woman" of Mammy films that makes the film very watchable.
Highly recommended.