Cheryl
Dunye . . .
Cheryl Dunye, a native of
Philadelphia, was born in Liberia in 1966. Cheryl is the
director and creator of the first African-American lesbian
feature film, The Watermelon Woman.
Dunye received her BA from Temple University and her MFA from
Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts, where she
used the video art form to explore race, sex, and class in the
lives of black women.
Dunye has received numerous honors for her work in the media
arts. In 1997, THE WATERMELON WOMAN was included in the
Whitney Biennial. In 1996 the film was awarded best gay feature
in the Berlin Film Festival and best feature in the Los Angeles
OutFest, Torino, and Creteil Film Festivals.
In
1995 her short film GREETINGS FROM AFRICA was included in the
Sundance Film Festival. Dunye's other works have been screened
at festivals in New York, London, Tokyo, Cape Town, and Sydney.
She has received grants from the Astraea Foundation (1992) and
Frameline (1992); fellowships from Art Matters, Inc. (1992), and
Rutgers University (1990, 1991); honored with the MARMAF
Pennsylvania Major Artist Award (1993) and the Anonymous Was A
Woman Award (1997); a recipient of a media grant from the
National Endowment of the Arts (1995); a the fellowship from
Rockefeller Foundation (1998); the prestigious Anonymous was a
Woman Award (1998); and a dramatic jury member at the Sundance
film festival (1999).
In addition Dunye has written articles for "Time Out", "Felix"
and "Movement Research." She currently teaches in the Department
of Art at the University of California, Riverside and the
Department of Media Studies at Pitzer College in Southern
California and is at work on a script for her next feature film
about a young African American woman who is admitted to the same
Correctional Facility as her mother.
Using documentary, fiction, and pseudo-documentary styles of
filmmaking, Dunye creates what she calls the "Dunyementary." Her
video, The Potluck and the Passion, was included in the 1993
Whitney Biennial. Dunye's other works have been screened at
festivals in New York, London, South Africa, and Paris.
She has received grants from the Astrea
Foundation (1992) and Frameline (1992); fellowships from Art
Matters, Inc. (1992), and Rutgers University (1990, 1991);
honored with the MARMAF Pennsylvania Major Artists Award (1993);
and a recipient of a media grant from the National Endowment of
the Arts (1995). In addition, Dunye has written articles for
"Felix" and "Movement Research."
She is currently a part-time instructor in
the Department of Media Studies at Pitzer College in southern
California, a board member of OUTFEST in Los Angeles, a member
of the IFP/West and Film Arts Foundation as well as being the
mother of 2 children.
View a 1-minute Streaming Video Clip from "Released"
Source: Cheryl Duyne's
Website:
http://www.cheryldunye.com/index.html
Stranger Baby Productions:
http://www.strangerbaby.com/index.htm
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