"The Watermelon Woman" – Film Evening followed by a Party at the Filmmuseum

The feature film ‘The Watermelon Woman’ by director Cheryl Dunye (USA 1996, 90′, original version with German subtitles) will be shown.

Cheryl is a lesbian, black filmmaker who works in a video store in Philadelphia. Fascinated by films from the 1930s and 40s in which people of colour play leading roles without being named in the credits, she researches an actress known only as the Watermelon Woman and begins to make a documentary about her. While dealing with the racist mechanisms of film history, Cheryl realises that her white girlfriend desires her primarily because of her skin colour.

Cheryl Dunye's debut film is full of new perspectives on film history, filmmaking and racism, which she implements with humorous ease. The subversive elements and empowerment strategies make the comedy a cult film of the New Queer Cinema of the 1990s, not only because of the "hottest dyke sex scene ever recorded on celluloid" (J. DeLombard).

Introduction: Dr. Johanne Hoppe

Followed by a party in the foyer.

Admission is free. Ticket reservation at Filmmuseum Potsdam is recommended:

• Phone: +49 331 271 81 12
• E-mail: ticket@filmmuseum-potsdam.de
• Website: www.filmmuseum-potsdam.de

The cinema is barrier-free.

A joint event by the Equality Office of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam and the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, as well as the Equal Opportunities Coordination Office of the University of Potsdam, in collaboration with the Filmmuseum Potsdam as part of the 35th Brandenburg Women's Weeks 2025. The Brandenburg Women's Weeks are a unique political format. More than 200 events are organised throughout Brandenburg.