The Watermelon Woman (1996) review

Aspiring filmmaker Cheryl (Dunye), who works at a video store in Philly with her friend Tamara (Valarie Walker), is infatuated with an old Hollywood actress named Fae Richards (Lisa Marie Bronson) - who's (unfortunately) listed as "The Watermelon Woman" in the credits of a (fictitious) movie called Plantation Memories - and wants to unearth as much information about her as possible all while having a brief romance with flirtatious Diana (Guinevere Turner), a customer who asks her for rental recommendations.  It's bewildering that it took until the late 1990's for there to be a feature film directed by a female African-American who openly identifies as a lesbian but here we are - the trouble is, despite Dunye's clear passion and enthusiasm, it still (and I'm going to try to be polite) comes across like a student production with the choppy editing, mediocre acting and other egregious stylistic "choices" (those screen wipes!) with a good portion of it looking like it was shot on the cheapest camcorder you can "rent" in Pennsylvania.  The central premise is worth researching, however - what did happen to those actresses of color who had minor roles in silent cinema? - and it's nice to see professional bomb thrower Camille Paglia and commendably snarky essayist David Rakoff (who left us too soon) pop up briefly.