Cinema Professor Cheryl Dunye Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship

SF STATE NEWS -- She is among 175 U.S. scholars, artists and scientists chosen from a group of nearly 3,000 applicants. Dunye is experiencing what she calls “midlife magic.” She’s celebrating the 20th anniversary of her award-winning first film, “The Watermelon Woman,” the first African American, lesbian feature film ever made, which was recently remastered and featured at the San Francisco International Film Festival. She’s turning 50. She’s preparing to shoot a full-length film based on her 2014 short film “Black is Blue.” And she is now a Guggenheim Fellow. “This fellowship comes at a point where the body of work that I started so many years ago is at a midpoint,” Dunye said. “The seeds have sprouted and the plant is growing, and I’ve grounded a place where people with my identities can express themselves in this medium.” Dunye has more than 15 films to her credit, including “Mommy is Coming,” “The Owls,” “Stranger Inside” and “My Baby’s Daddy.”