Film Screening: The Watermelon Woman
A queer cinema classic + panel on “Silences in the Archives” with QHB & the Museum of African American History.
Join Queer History Boston and the Museum of African American History for a screening of The Watermelon Woman (1996), Cheryl Dunye’s groundbreaking debut and a landmark of New Queer Cinema.
🎞️ About "The Watermelon Woman"
Cheryl Dunye made cinematic history with The Watermelon Woman, the first American feature to be directed by a black lesbian as well as an incisive, humorous critique of classic Hollywood's racist stereotypes.
Dunye plays an eponymous video store employee and burgeoning filmmaker who sets out to make a documentary on the Watermelon Woman (Lisa Marie Bronson), an actress who specialized in "mammy" roles for Hollywood productions of the 30s and 40s. As Cheryl uncovers the Watermelon Woman's identity she not only learns about a secret behind-the-scenes interracial romance but also begins one of her own with Diana (Guinevere Turner), a white woman who arouses the ire of Cheryl's best friend Tamara (Valerie Walker).
A landmark of the New Queer Cinema, The Watermelon Woman testifies to the power of excavating legacies of oppression and in the process creates a progressive legacy of its own.
🎬 About the Conversation: 'Silences in the Archives'
Following the film, stay for a panel discussion featuring Angela T. Tate, Arielle Gray, and Micha Broadnax, moderated by Mik Hamilton.
“Silences in the Archives” refers to the gaps, absences, and distortions in the historical record created when systemic inequities, especially racism, determine whose stories are preserved, whose are marginalized, and whose are never documented at all.
This conversation invites us to think critically and creatively about absence. How do we understand gaps in the record? What responsibilities do archives hold today? And how do we build more inclusive historical futures?
