Cheryl Dunye
Encyclopedia
Cheryl Dunye is a film director
, producer
, screenwriter
, editor
and actress. Dunye is a lesbian
and her work often concerns themes of race, sexuality and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians.
Dunye was born in Liberia
. She has taught at UC Riverside, Temple University
, and Pitzer College
.
She is currently an associate professor at the California College of the Arts
, and a mother of two children.
Dunye's feature debut was The Watermelon Woman
(1996), a film which explored the history of black women and lesbians in film.
She directed the 2001 television movie Stranger Inside
based on the experiences of African-American lesbians in prison.
Taking a turn from self-written lesbian-focused films, she directed My Baby's Daddy
starring Eddie Griffin
, Michael Imperioli
, and Anthony Anderson
in 2004, although a character in the film turns out to be lesbian.
She directed The Owls, co-written with novelist Sarah Schulman
, which made its debut at the Berlin International Film Festival
. The film is about a group of "Older, Wiser Lesbians" (an acronym of which provides the title) who accidentally kill a younger woman and try to cover it up.
The cast includes Guinevere Turner
and V.S. Brodie, who had appeared together in the 1994 lesbian-themed film Go Fish
and The Watermelon Woman, as well as Dunye, Lisa Gornick, Skyler Cooper, and Deak Evgenikos
.
As of 2010, Dunye is working on a film called Adventures in the 419, also co-written with Schulman, which was selected as one of the works-in-progress films in the Tribeca All Access
program during the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival
.
The film is set in Amsterdam and is about 419 scams among the immigrant community.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, editor
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
and actress. Dunye is a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
and her work often concerns themes of race, sexuality and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians.
Dunye was born in Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
. She has taught at UC Riverside, Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
, and Pitzer College
Pitzer College
Pitzer College is a private residential liberal arts college located in Claremont, California, a college town approximately east of downtown Los Angeles. Pitzer College is one of the Claremont Colleges....
.
She is currently an associate professor at the California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts , founded in 1907, is known for its broad, interdisciplinary programs in art, design, architecture, and writing. It has two campuses, one in Oakland and one in San Francisco, California, USA...
, and a mother of two children.
Film career
Dunye started her career with six short films which have been collected on DVD as The Early Works of Cheryl Dunye.Dunye's feature debut was The Watermelon Woman
The Watermelon Woman
The Watermelon Woman is a 1996 feature film by filmmaker Cheryl Dunye about Cheryl, a young black lesbian working a day job in a video store while trying to make a film about a black actress from the 1930s known for playing the stereotypical "mammy" roles relegated to black actresses during the...
(1996), a film which explored the history of black women and lesbians in film.
She directed the 2001 television movie Stranger Inside
Stranger Inside
Stranger Inside is a television drama film directed by Cheryl Dunye that premiered on cable television in 2001. The story primarily concerns African-American lesbians in prison. Michael Stipe, the lead singer of R.E.M., helped to produce it...
based on the experiences of African-American lesbians in prison.
Taking a turn from self-written lesbian-focused films, she directed My Baby's Daddy
My Baby's Daddy
My Baby's Daddy is a 2004 comedy film, directed by Cheryl Dunye.-Plot:Childhood friends Lonnie , Dominic , and G have a rude awakening when they find out their girlfriends are pregnant....
starring Eddie Griffin
Eddie Griffin
Edward James "Eddie" Griffin, Jr. is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his sitcom, Malcolm & Eddie along with co-star, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and his role in the 2002 comedy film Undercover Brother as the film’s title character.-Early life:Griffin was born in Kansas City,...
, Michael Imperioli
Michael Imperioli
James Michael Imperioli , commonly known as Michael Imperioli, is an American actor and television writer. He is perhaps best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2004. He also...
, and Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He has starred in his own sitcom All About the Andersons, as well as the Fox sitcom The Bernie Mac Show during the fifth and final season of the show. He is also known for his leading roles in television dramas such as K-Ville, The...
in 2004, although a character in the film turns out to be lesbian.
She directed The Owls, co-written with novelist Sarah Schulman
Sarah Schulman
Sarah Miriam Schulman is an American novelist, historian and playwright. An early chronicler of the AIDS crisis, she wrote on AIDS and social issues, publishing in The Village Voice in the early 1980s, and writing the first piece on AIDS and the homeless, which appeared in The Nation...
, which made its debut at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
. The film is about a group of "Older, Wiser Lesbians" (an acronym of which provides the title) who accidentally kill a younger woman and try to cover it up.
The cast includes Guinevere Turner
Guinevere Turner
Guinevere Turner is an American actress, writer and director. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She is best known as the screenwriter of such films as American Psycho and The Notorious Bettie Page and for playing the lead role of the dominatrix Tanya Cheex in Preaching to the Perverted.-...
and V.S. Brodie, who had appeared together in the 1994 lesbian-themed film Go Fish
Go Fish (film)
Go Fish is a 1994 American lesbian-themed independent drama film. Directed and co-written by Rose Troche, the film tells the story of the interrelationships of a small group of lesbian friends in Chicago...
and The Watermelon Woman, as well as Dunye, Lisa Gornick, Skyler Cooper, and Deak Evgenikos
Deak Evgenikos
Deak Evgenikos is an American actress originally from New Jersey. She is best known for her role in Jamie Babbit's film Itty Bitty Titty Committee, a girl-powered romantic comedy that explores themes such as lesbianism and female empowerment....
.
As of 2010, Dunye is working on a film called Adventures in the 419, also co-written with Schulman, which was selected as one of the works-in-progress films in the Tribeca All Access
Tribeca Film Institute
-Mission:The Tribeca Film Institute is a year-round non-profit arts organization founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in the wake of September 11, 2001...
program during the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
.
The film is set in Amsterdam and is about 419 scams among the immigrant community.
Director
- Janine (1990)
- She Don't Fade (1991)
- Vanilla SexVanilla sexVanilla sex is a description of what a culture regards as standard or conventional sexual behaviour. Different cultures, subcultures and individuals have different ideas about what constitutes this type of sex...
(1992) - An Untitled Portrait (1993)
- The Potluck and the Passion (1993)
- Greetings from Africa (1994)
- The Watermelon WomanThe Watermelon WomanThe Watermelon Woman is a 1996 feature film by filmmaker Cheryl Dunye about Cheryl, a young black lesbian working a day job in a video store while trying to make a film about a black actress from the 1930s known for playing the stereotypical "mammy" roles relegated to black actresses during the...
(1996) - Stranger InsideStranger InsideStranger Inside is a television drama film directed by Cheryl Dunye that premiered on cable television in 2001. The story primarily concerns African-American lesbians in prison. Michael Stipe, the lead singer of R.E.M., helped to produce it...
(2001) (TV) - My Baby's DaddyMy Baby's DaddyMy Baby's Daddy is a 2004 comedy film, directed by Cheryl Dunye.-Plot:Childhood friends Lonnie , Dominic , and G have a rude awakening when they find out their girlfriends are pregnant....
(2004) - The Owls (2010)
Awards
- 1996: Audience Award at LA OutfestOutfestOutfest is an LGBT-oriented film showcase and festival in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1982 as the "Gay and Lesbian Media Festival and Conference", the name was changed to Outfest in 1994.-Programs:...
for Outstanding narrative feature - The Watermelon Woman - 1996: Teddy AwardTeddy AwardThe Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival . Here, an "independent jury" implies that its members are not officially selected by the committee of the Berlinale...
for Best feature film - The Watermelon Woman - 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 FestivalCréteil International Women's Film FestivalThe Créteil International Women's Film Festival is an annual event in Créteil, Paris, France founded by Jackie Buet in 1978 to showcase the directing talents of female filmmakers who, at the time, had difficulty getting their films adequately distributed. The first festival was held in 1979 in Sceaux...
for Stranger Inside - 2002: Audience Award from the Philadelphia Film FestivalPhiladelphia Film FestivalThe Philadelphia Film Festival is held annually in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Until 2009 it was generally held during the first weeks of April....
, and the Audience Award from the San Francisco International Film FestivalSan Francisco International Film FestivalSan Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...
.
External links
- Official site
- Video Interview with Cheryl Dunye at QFest 2010
- Cheryl Dunye at the California College of the Arts