Black Summers Productions, LLC

Black Summers Productions made this 5-minute documentary as part of a collective effort by Bay Area filmmakers to commemorate 30 years of the AIDS pandemic. For more stories, visit The HIV Story Project.

Bradford York

There is a version of the Bradford York mini-documentary with Spanish subtitles. Both versions are on BSP's YouTube channels (see below).

Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis
Premiered in San Francisco at the Roxie Theater on July 2, 2009.

In conjunction with Face to Face Sonoma County AIDS Network, there was a special screening of Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis at the Rialto Cinemas Lakeside in Santa Rosa, California on February 18, 2010. After the screening there was a Q&A with Mike Black, Carole Summers, Michael Guillén, Bernardo Espi, Matthew Kennedy, and Scott O'Brien. The Q&A was moderated by Gary Carnivele of KRCB 91FM radio. A transcript of the Q&A is now available on Michael Guillén's blog The Evening Class.

"Queer Icon is a bona fide treat." RATING: THREE BOXES OF POPCORN.™ Buzzin' Lee Hartgrave

This documentary examines the many aspects of the gay fascination with Bette Davis, featuring film clips of Bette's most iconic moments, juxtaposed with camp burlesques of her by San Francisco actor Matthew Martin and others, including Charles Pierce and Arthur Blake; a profile of Martin highlighting his long identification with Davis; and interviews with fans, entertainers, and gay cultural historians.

"More than simply a lovefest, Queer Icon questions whether gays still need a role model like the fabulous Miss D."
Michael Fox

Buy Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis on DVD directly from BSP for only $13.79.

The Queer Icon DVD is also available through Amazon.com for $19.99.

Cassandra's Echo

Black Summers Productions' first movie was Cassandra's Echo, which premiered at the 2006 FAIF International Film Festival in Hollywood October 10, 2006

Visit Black Summers Productions' YouTube channels to see more videos.

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BSPics

If you would like to help finance Black Summers' next movie A Cold Reading, you can make a donation through PayPal. Unfortunately, donations are NOT tax deductible

Click on the poster below to learn All About Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis

Buy the DVD now for just $13.79

MIXED BAG OF LINKS

• Blood Moon Productions

• The Evening Class

• Footsteps In The Fog

• Hollywoodland

• IMDb

• Matthew Kennedy

• Scott O'Brien

• Reel SF

• Ed Sikov

• Anthony Slide

• Turner Classic Movies

• TED

• CIS - Fair Use Project

• Creative Cow

• Digital Copycat

• Renaissance Stone

• Mill Valley Film Group

Black Summers Productions is working on getting the funds together to make our third feature-length film
A Cold Reading.

A Cold Reading is a dark comedy set in San Francisco. Please visit the A Cold Reading page for all the details.

This is the "begging" video we posted on Kickstarter. We imagined ourselves going door to door asking people to contribute money so we could make a movie and wondered what would happen if we went to the wrong door. The movie clips are from Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much (which is in the public domain).

Matthew Martin
Photo by Carole Summers