"Dark and Tender: The Big Island” A Film by the Chronically UnderTouched (CUT) Project
February 20, 2026
Join us for a film screening and Q&A hosted by Dark and Tender Producer Ben Wilson of Color of Sound.
This is a by-donation event.
In the second chapter of Aaron Johnson’s film “Dark and Tender”, ten Black men journey to the Big Island of Hawaii to workshop the touch and listening practices from the Chronically UnderTouched Project. Part cinéma vérité, part elucidated teaching, the film slows down with the men as they reclaim and rebuild platonic intimacy and trust. Holding space for each other, they shake off violent narratives of Black masculinity and seek to restore a vital and basic human need in their lives – tender touch.
Both short films “Dark and Tender: A Film by the Chronically UnderTouched (CUT) Project” and “Dark and Tender: The Big Island” will be screened.
“Dark and Tender: A Film by the Chronically UnderTouched (CUT) Project” was filmed in part at Whidbey Institute.
Color of Sound, Producer of Dark and Tender, is a nonprofit 501c3 organization located in Port Townsend, WA just two hours northwest of Seattle. Color of Sound is dedicated to improving the lives of people of color in the PNW and beyond through racial healing, housing and land access, restorative justice, and economic development.
Category : Featured Program