Dark and Tender: The Big Island

About the film

In the second chapter of Aaron Johnson’s “Dark and Tender”, ten Black men journey to the Big Island of Hawaii to workshop the touch and listening practices from the Chronically UnderTouched (CUT) 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.