The Watermelon Woman
“Sometimes you have to create your own history.”
A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.
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Cast
78 people
Cheryl Dunye
Cheryl
Also in
The Potluck and the Passion
Mommy Is Coming
Guinevere Turner
Diana
Known for
American Psycho
Dogma
Valarie Walker
Tamara
No other roles listed
Lisa Marie Bronson
Fae "The Watermelon Woman" Richards
No other roles listed
Cheryl Clarke
June Walker
Irene Dunye
Self
Brian Freeman
Lee Edwards
Also in
Anthem
Ira Jeffries
Shirley Hamilton
No other roles listed
Alexandra Juhasz
Martha Page
Also in
The Owls
Sex Fish
Camille Paglia
Self
Also in
Glennda and Camille Do Downtown
Imagining Ulysses
Sarah Schulman
CLIT Archivist
Also in
Jason and Shirley
The Owls
V.S. Brodie
Karaoke Singer
Also in
Go Fish
The Owls
Cheryl Dunye Director · Paul Shapiro Composer Michelle Crenshaw Cinematographer
United States release March 5, 1997 · Produced in United States
Production
Dancing Girl
Production
United States
Produced in
Languages
Original language
English
Spoken on screen
English
Release dates
Germany · February 7, 1996
Premiere · Berlin International Film Festival
United States · March 5, 1997
Theatrical
United States
May 8, 1996 · Premiere · Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema
Canada
September 7, 1996 · Premiere · Toronto International Film Festival
Netherlands
June 25, 2026 · Theatrical · Previously Unreleased 2026
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Some details come from TheTVDB.