Cheryl Dunye

Dykes, Camera, Action!

The film examines the ways that women directors have contributed to this genre and emphasizes the role that the media play in representation of sexuality and gender, underscoring the power that film has to shape our perceptions of one another. Visually, this documentary comes to life on screen through compelling and intimate original interviews, intercut with emotionally-charged archival footage, photographs, ephemera, inspired music, and film clips.

Mansfield 66/67

About the last two years of movie goddess Jayne Mansfield’s life and the speculation swirling around her untimely death being caused by a curse after her alleged romantic dalliance with Anton LaVey, head of the Church of Satan.

Mommy Is Coming

With things growing a bit stale in the bedroom, lesbian couple Claudia and Dylan agree to seek sexual experiences outside their relationship. Dylan discovers new pleasures at a sex club, while Claudia, in drag as Claude, finds a surprising partner

Hooters!

“Hooters!” explores lesbian culture, with humor, insight, and artistry, through the collaborative film making process used in Cheryl Dunye’s new seminal film, “The Owls”.

The Owls

Two middle-aged lesbian couples accidentally kill a younger girl and decide to cover it up. But their crime comes back to haunt them when an unexpected stranger appears in their lives, bringing tension and discord.

Sisters in Cinema

Explores the careers of twenty black women working as film directors.

Women of Vision

Documentary that highlights 18 women and covers a period of time from the 50's to the 90's. The women chosen were selected because they represent the real diversity within both feminism and independent film and video. They range in age from 65 to 25. They are black, white, Puerto Rican, Yugoslavian, Asian American, biracial. They are straight, gay and bisexual. What they share is a need to express their own interpretations of what American culture is and could be and a belief that this work is made particularly powerful through the media.

Lavender Limelight

From Go Fish to Paris is Burning to The Watermelon Woman, this festival favorite goes behind the scenes to reveal seven successful lesbian directors. These talented movie-makers enlighten and entertain as they explore their sexual identity, growing up gay, inspirations and techniques, Hollywood vs. Indie, and of course, love and sex, onscreen and off. The conversations are intimate, the topics unlimited, and the clips from their work enthralling! Featuring Cheryl Dunye, Rose Troche, Jennie Livingston, Monika Treut, Maria Maggenti, Su Friedrich and Heather MacDonald.

The Watermelon Woman

A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.

Greetings from Africa

Cheryl, playing herself, humorously experiences the mysteries of lesbian dating in the '90s.

Sex Fish

A euphoric lesbian sex video features a group of women in a frenzy of erotic scenes with poetry, slowly dripping water, fancy goldfish, and an ecstatic score by Sheila Chandra. Experimenting with pro-sex feminist media practices and pornography, Sex Fish was made as a collaboration known as E.T. Baby Mania.

The Potluck and the Passion

Sparks fly as racial, sexual and social politics intermingle at a lesbian potluck.

An Untitled Portrait

Filmmaker Cheryl Dunye's relationship with her brother is examined in this mixture of appropriated film footage, super 8mm home movies and Dunye's special brand of humor.

Strange Weather

A quartet of crack addicts, absorbed by their life of pure sensation, are holed up inside while the world outside is about to explode.

Vanilla Sex

A short exploring what the term ‘Vanilla Sex’ means in black and queer communities through polaroid photographs.

She Don't Fade

She Don't Fade chronicles the sexual pursuits of Shae Clarke, an African American lesbian. Clarke, played by Dunye herself, defines and readily demonstrates her "new approach to women."

Janine

The story of a black lesbian's relationship with a white, upper middle class high school girl.