Donna Deitch

Donna Deitch is an American lesbian filmmaker known for Desert Hearts (1985), a landmark film based on Jane Rule's novel Desert of the Heart about a woman who falls in love with another woman at a Nevada divorce ranch in the 1950s. Desert Hearts was one of the first American films to portray a lesbian relationship with both honesty and a happy ending, and it became a touchstone of lesbian cinema. Deitch self-distributed the film, touring it to cities and building its audience through LGBTQ+ community networks. She subsequently directed episodes of television dramas including L.A. Law and The Women of Brewster Place.