Dunye's first feature film – also the first feature film directed by a black lesbian woman – premiered in 1996 at the Berlinale and won the Teddy Award for Best LGBTQIA+ Feature Film.

The Watermelon Woman is a sharp meta-mix of film lecture and romantic comedy all in one. Dunye provides profound commentary on the erasure of black film history in Hollywood, but also paints a witty picture of the academic habitat known as 'queer media studies.' Dunye's first feature film – also the first feature film directed by a black lesbian woman – premiered in 1996 at the Berlinale and won the Teddy Award for Best LGBTQIA+ Feature Film. In the Netherlands, the film had not been shown in theaters before.