The Watermelon Woman

The Watermelon Woman (1997) is Cheryl Dunye's witty drama-comedy, now available to watch online on iFILM. It holds a real place in film history: the first feature ever directed by a Black lesbian, built as a playful faux-documentary.

Dunye herself plays Cheryl, a video-store clerk in Philadelphia chasing a personal obsession — an uncredited 1930s actress billed only as "the Watermelon Woman." The more old footage she digs through, the more she uncovers: a Black performer stuck playing maids, and her affair with a white Hollywood director. Meanwhile Cheryl starts dating Diana, a white woman, and the romance strains her friendship with co-worker Tamara.

Here's the catch — the Watermelon Woman never existed. Dunye invented her, and that invention is the whole point: a comment on how Black and queer lives get erased from the record. The film took the Teddy Award in Berlin and became a cornerstone of New Queer Cinema. Quiet, funny, deeply personal — catch The Watermelon Woman (1997) online on iFILM.