According to writer/director Cheryl Dunye, much about the character she plays in the film is autobiographical, but the historical references to the Watermelon Woman are fictional: "The Watermelon Woman came from the real lack of any information about the lesbian and film history of African-American women. Since it wasn't happening, I invented it."
The scene from the faux-archival 1930s film, "Plantation Memories", was directed by Douglas McKeown and co-written by McKeown and Cheryl Dunye
In 2021, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 2022 this film appeared at joint 146th in the BFI's Sight and Sound poll.
The "Lesbians in Hollywood" book that Cheryl shows is said to be written by Doug McKeown, whom she sarcastically says "is a lesbian". Doug McKeown is the name if the film's producer.