Episode 99: The Watermelon Woman (1996)

Black Girl Film Club

Happy Pride! This week, we review groundbreaking piece of modern indie filmmaking, The Watermelon Woman (1996) directed by Cheryl Dunye and starring Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker, and Lisa Marie Bronson. The Watermelon Woman follows Cheryl, a video store clerk and filmmaker, on her search for the identity of a 1930s actress known only as The Watermelon Woman. This movie is considered the first feature film directed by a Black lesbian and was added to the Library of Congress by the National Film Registry in 2021 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In this episode, we discuss the importance of film preservation and restoration in the streaming era, what it means to create an identity as a queer person, and wonder what life must be like when you can afford to create your art. Our recommendations: Billie and Emma (2017), Go Fish (1994), and The Living End (1992) Check out Ashley's Queer Cinema list on Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/breakyoselffool/list/queer-cinema/ For your reference: James Dean: the Bi Hollywood Icon We Lost Too Soon by Kaz Rowe https://youtu.be/I96mhnUBVks The Wild, Wild History of Gay Cowboy Movies (and more) by Kaz Rowe https://youtu.be/6MSNujZ_7GY Support your girls with a ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials and join our new Discord server at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub