Cheryl Dunye

Born: 1966

Country of Birth: Liberia

Nationality: Liberian-American

Ethnicity: Black

Temple University BA; Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts MFA

""In approaching this piece, (Stranger Inside, 2001) I was interested in how connected a lot of these women are to the outside world and how they find that balance to being an inmate, being a mother, being a member of a family or a clan, or a group that got them in--one that they support or have to support. It puts these women in many different spaces at the same time. But one space that they have to call home is this institution: the prison." (Wikipedia); "Making work is a privilege, a right," Dunye says. "Getting that out there is just connecting with people and community. You have to constantly keep putting yourself out where you belong. There's a loop to it." (npr.org); “I am so tired of not seeing Black queer lives in the future. I’m so tired of the magical negro syndrome. . . .That’s why I’m doing the post apocalyptic sci-fi, looking at queer afro-futurist type things. . . .I want to be able to tell stories as a filmmaker, and have the rights to do what every filmmaker is allowed to do. For me, what the 20th anniversary and reception of ‘The Watermelon Woman’ is saying is: Make your film, don’t worry about it.” (indiewire.com); “Movies are about making money,” she said. “But when you’re in it to make cinema and statements and art and media that matters in a different way, you’re saying that it’s going to take a while, that I’m not going to have money, but I’m going to make a mark.” (latimes.com); ". . .the Dunyementary is Do-Your-Own-Mentary… If you are living in the margins and you’re invisible… you can do anything. So marginality is my strength in that sense. It allowed me to have my own sense of visibility, it help me create my own world, make my own cinema. So the Dunyementary is basically putting myself in my own picture with my own truth, using documentary elements. I was calling it the theory of 3’s, where you see me talking to you, in sort of a talking head style.. you see a vignette… and then you see text that says something, or is poetic or whatnot on a title card. And if you didn’t understand who I was, or what I’m talking about at that point, then bye bye!" (kqed.org); "

— Cheryl Dunye

Field of Study: Art, Film

Institution/Corporation: Jingletown Films

Degrees & Memberships: Member: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS, 2016)

Awards: 1991 Fine Cut Winner Independent Images, TV 12 WHYY Inc.; 1995 Artist Mentor Residency Award Film Video Arts Inc.; 1995 Media Production Award, National Endowment for the Arts; 1995 Vito Russo Filmmaker Award, New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival; 1995 Ursula Award, Hamburg Lesbian & Gay Film Festival; 1996 Audience Award at LA Outfest for Outstanding narrative feature - The Watermelon Woman; 1996 Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival for Best feature film - The Watermelon Woman; 1996 Audience Award Créteil International Women's Film Festival; 1996 Audience Award, Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival; 1997 Biennial Anonymous Was A Woman Award, Whitney Museum of American Art; 1998 The Rockefeller Foundation Award, The Rockefeller Foundation; 2000 Best Director Award, Girlfriends; 2001 Audience Award at LA Outfest; 2001 Audience Award from the Philadelphia Film Festival, and the Audience Award from the San Francisco International Film Festival; 2001 Special Jury Award from the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival - Stranger Inside; 2001 Audience Award for best narrative feature - Stranger Inside; 2002 Audience Award and Special Mention at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival for Stranger Inside; 2002 London International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Best Feature Award; 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award, Girlfriends; 2004 Community Vision Award, National Center for Lesbian Rights; 2016 The Guggenheim Fellowship Award, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; 2020 Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series, Black Reel Awards for Television - Dear White People; 2022 Cinema Eye Legacy Award - The Watermelon Woman; 2023 Brudner Prize, Yale University; 2023 James Robert Brudner Prize

Achievements: first out black lesbian to ever direct a feature film with her 1996 film The Watermelon Woman, an exploration of the history of black women and lesbians in film; runs the production company Jingletown Films based in Oakland, California; work often concerns themes of race, sexuality, and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians; developed "Dunyementaries," a self-coined blend of narrative and documentary techniques that she describes as "a mix of film, video, friends, and a lot of heart." (Wikipedia);