TIME: Saturday, March 22 at 7pm
LOCATION: NCMA WS (750 Marguerite Dr, Winston-Salem, NC 27106)
ABOUT THE FILM: THE WATERMELON WOMAN is a story about stories – the stories the movie industry tells the world, the stories we tell of ourselves, and the stories we tell for ourselves. The film follows Cheryl, played by writer/director Cheryl Dunye, an amateur filmmaker and black lesbian, as she navigates life, love, and a film history project on “The Watermelon Woman”, a black actress of the 1930s and 1940s. The film floats along on Dunye’s incredibly charming screen presence as well as plenty of zingers from the script. We get a look at black lesbian life both contemporary (90s Philly) and historical, as it turns out “The Watermelon Woman” was “in the family”. Hovering beneath the light-heartedness of the comedy is the lack of opportunities in the film industry for black women of the past and present. Not to mention that this was the first film directed by a black lesbian, an incredibly assured feature-length debut from Dunye.
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