LEGENDS: The Queen Of Disco – An Intimate Portrait of Donna Summer

Love To Love You, Donna Summer film released May 2023

The unexpected and intimate portrait of Donna Summer – Love To Love You – had its world premiere at The Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year ahead of the documentary’s television broadcast later this month. The HBO film is directed by Oscar and Emmy winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams Donna’s daughter, Brooklyn Sudano. It comes eleven years after her shocking death on 17th May 2012 aged 63 and focuses on the memories of close family, friends and colleagues.

The documentary is filled with Donna’s hits from her breakout global smash “Love To Love You Baby” (the title of the film) to “I Feel Love“, “Love’s Unkind”, “On The Radio“, “State Of Independence” and “This Time I Know It’s For Real“, to name but a few. Love To Love You is an in-depth look at the iconic artist as she creates music that takes her from the avant-garde music scene in Germany, to the glitter and bright lights of dance clubs in New York, to worldwide acclaim, her voice and artistry becoming the defining soundtrack of an era.

A deeply personal portrait of Summer on and off the stage, the film features a wealth of photographs and never-before-seen home video footage – often shot by Donna herself – and provides a rich window into the surprising range of her artistry, from songwriting to painting, while exploring the highs and lows of a life lived on the global stage and with the full support of her family, who allow this never before access to her own archive of material and home movies.

Donna acheived dozens of hit singles across the globe as well as Gold and Platinum discs for her albums that have collectively sold over 100 million copies worldwide. From her debut “Lady Of The Night” in 1974 to her last, “Crayons”, in 2008, Donna was groundbreaking and always able to surprise her following with the choices she made along with her husband, artistically. From her iconic songs with Giorgio Moroder in the 70’s to working with Quincy Jones and Bruce Springsteen in the early 80’s and British production team Stock Aitken Waterman at the end of that decade, Donna was able to adapt and move with the times while many of her fellow 70’s divas were left behind.

2023 will also see the 40th anniversary relaunch of her 1983 album “She Works Hard For The Money” in expanded form with additional mixes and other tracks, which compliments the 2022 expanded edition of her self-titled 1982 album. With “She Works Hard For The Money”, Donna worked with Michael Omartian (The Jacksons, Whitney, Amy Grant) and featured three hit singles, “Unconditional Love”, “Love Has A Mind Of Its Own” and the title track, which was a top three hit in America and a top twenty hit around the world. The album itself was Gold certified at home and in the UK and was her last really big hit until “Another Place And Time” in 1989.