[4] She first attended Michigan State University where she was in the political theory program due to her desire to make a change and have an impact on the world.

[8][9] Most of these videos feature the use of mixed media, a blurring of fact and fiction and explored issues relating to the director's experience as a black lesbian filmmaker.

[13] "(Experimental documentary, 1990) The story of a black lesbian's relationship with a white, upper middle class high school girl.

"[12] This three-minute experimental documentary features Dunye's voice in conversation with an offscreen character, played over photography and found footage.

The film opens with Cheryl narrating in front of a camera about her efforts to get back into the dating scene while attempting to avoid the common pitfall of lesbian serial monogamy.

[18] The story explores the difficulty in navigating archival sources that either excludes or ignores black queer women working in Hollywood, particularly that of actress Fae Richards whose character bore the name that provides the title for the film.

[19][20] Dunye and photographer Zoe Leonard collaborated to stage and construct The Fae Richards Photo Archive, 1993-1996 to be used in the film.

[19][21] In 2016, the film was restored and rereleased widely for its 20th anniversary and resides in the permanent cinema collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

[22] Dunye's second feature is the HBO produced television movie Stranger Inside based on the experiences of African-American lesbians in prison.

[24] The film deals with a young woman and juvenile offender named Treasure (Yolonda Ross), who seeks to build a relationship with her estranged mother by getting transferred to the same prison facility once she becomes an adult.

[18][24] Dunye became interested in exploring motherhood within imprisonment in Stranger Inside by the birth of her daughter and Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

[18][24][25] Additionally, Dunye was interested in the topic of incarcerated women through Angela Davis's work and the Critical Resistance's Creating Change conference at University of California, Berkeley.

[24] In a 2004 issue of Feminist Studies, Dunye discussed some of her inspiration and purpose for the film, particularly how these women make prison a home.

[24] Dunye conducted a screenwriting workshop modeled after Rhodessa Jones's Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women during her research.

[24] Catherine Opie took mug shots of the people involved in the film's production, though few of the photographs were actually featured in the final cut due to pressure from HBO.

A live reading performed by professional actors was recorded by the Walker Centre and was showcased at festivals and contributed to the successful funding and production of the film.

The short film tells the story of Black, an African American trans man, who works as a security guard inside an apartment complex in present-day Oakland, California.

The film is about a group of "Older, Wiser Lesbians" (an acronym of which provides the title) who accidentally kill a younger woman and try to cover it up.

[28] The cast includes Guinevere Turner and V. S. Brodie, who had appeared together in the 1994 lesbian-themed film Go Fish and The Watermelon Woman, as well as Dunye, Lisa Gornick, Skyler Cooper, and Deak Evgenikos.

Her other episodic directing credits include Claws (TNT), The Fosters (Freeform), Love Is (OWN), The Chi (Showtime), Star (FOX), Dear White People (Netflix), David Makes Man (OWN), All Rise (CBS), Delilah (OWN), Lovecraft Country (HBO), Y: The Last Man (FX), and The Umbrella Academy (Netflix).

[32] Some of the other literary figures that Dunye recalls include Harriet Jacobs,[18][25] Toni Morrison,[18] Audre Lorde[25][32] and Fannie Hurst.

According to the company's website, its goal is to provide a platform for storytellers and filmmakers that are people of color and/or queer and to be a space for diverse artists to thrive and have their voices heard.