Directed by Cheryl Dunye • Documentary • With Cheryl Dunye, Zoie Strauss, Paula Cronan, Wanda Freeman, Shu Leah Cheang, • 1994 • 80 minutes
Vilified by conservatives in Congress, defended by major newspapers, and celebrated by audiences and festivals around the world as one of the most provocative, humorous and important filmmakers of our time, Cheryl Dunye practically invented a new form of cinema – call it the ‘Dunyementary.’ Using a mixture of narrative and documentary techniques, the ‘Dunyementary’ challenges social and cultural norms through a sharply funny and reflexive lens. Never scholarly or didactic, Dunye appreciates the value in entertaining viewers
Her acclaimed first feature The Watermelon Woman (1996) introduced Cheryl to wider audiences, who fell in love with her self-depreciating and insightful wit – not to mention the great casts she assembled (including herself). But what came before this modern-day classic?
Presented here are the films that started it all – the early works which gave birth to an extraordinary and original filmmaking talent. Made with great creativity on often miniscule budgets, they represent the first chapter of the Cheryl Dunye oeuvre.
Directed by Ben Rivers & Ben Russell • Drama • 2014 • 98 minutes
A SPELL follows an unnamed character through three seemingly disparate moments in his life. With little explanation, we join him in the midst of a 15-person collective on a small Estonian island; in isolation in the majestic wi...
Directed by Sue Clayton & Jonathan Curling • Documentary • With Martha Gibson, Geraldine Pilgrim, Anna Mcniff, Liz Myers, Jill Greenhalgh, • 1979 • 135 minutes
The plight of women in the 1840s London rag trade is explored and deconstructed. Informed by experimental film practice and evoking ...
Directed by Guy Debord • Documentary • 1973 • 91 minutes
Six years after the publication of his Situationist classic The Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord released this semi-experimental, essay-film adaptation. Using the classic Situationist technique of “détournement” (think pre-digital remi...
