Citizen Screen: 'Dark and Tender' Explores the Healing Power of Touch Among Black Men
Citizen Screen is a monthly column dedicated to film and film-related topics, sourced and curated by Port Townsend Film Festival. This month’s column is by filmmaker Ben Wilson.
I was first drawn to the Chronically UnderTouched Project (CUT) because my own touch story is complicated. My parents were divorced when I was less than three years old, and as a result I was under-touched by my father and then over-touched by my mother. My father was black and my mother was white.
In late 2023, I started my own nonprofit called Color of Sound, which is dedicated to improving the lives of people of color in the PNW and beyond. I was looking for our first project for which I had a personal connection, but also had universal appeal. Aaron Johnson, the Founder of the CUT Project, was invited to Port Townsend to give multiple anti-racist workshops, which included touch workshops. At the first workshop I attended, I volunteered to participate in an exercise where I held hands with Aaron in front of the whole group as he discussed how he was feeling that day and then I was invited to give Aaron feedback on what I had heard, while still holding hands. In that moment in front of a room-full of people, I realized how uncomfortable I was, but also how healing it was for me to complete the exercise.
“As black men we sought to reclaim platonic intimacy and tenderness through close encounters with nature and depictions of gentle Black masculinity, restoring the vital aspect of touch by replacing violence and rough play with care, connection, and intimacy”
— Ben Wilson
Since I was a multiracial only-child living with my white mom, I had very little interaction with black men–let alone tender, platonic touch. So, for me holding hands with Aaron, not only was addressing my discomfort with platonic touch with men, but with black men specifically. I soon learned that the discomfort rooted in racism and homophobia could be healed by that of which I was most afraid.
Once I joined forces with Aaron Johnson and the CUT Project, I soon learned how many people, especially men, immediately found a name for something they had experienced their whole lives–just like me. We were able to quickly raise the money in the Port Townsend community to create a short film about the CUT Project called, “Dark and Tender.” I became the film’s Producer, which fit well with my entrepreneurial background and Aaron is the writer and director of the film.
Our powerful short film "Dark and Tender" follows ten Black men, including me, on a transformative retreat with the Chronically UnderTouched (CUT) Project held at the Whidbey Institute in April of this year. As black men we sought to reclaim platonic intimacy and tenderness through close encounters with nature and depictions of gentle Black masculinity, restoring the vital aspect of touch by replacing violence and rough play with care, connection, and intimacy. You can view a trailer here
I strongly believe that for our community to thrive we must embrace diversity. To change the composition of people living in Jefferson County to include more diversity of race, age, gender, and sexuality, Color of Sound is trying to cultivate filmmakers of all backgrounds that make films about their communities here in the State of Washington. I believe that by creating a broader set of cultural events that appeal especially to communities historically underrepresented in this region, we can attract and retain more people of all backgrounds. Film is an effective medium for complicated storytelling and is especially impactful when building empathy.
With the success of Dark and Tender, Color of Sound, the PTFF, and the Rose Theatre, plan to also host the Port Townsend Black Film Festival (PTBFF) March 7-9, 2025. These Port Townsend organizations are interested in cultivating and supporting black filmmakers that make films for and about black people here in the State of Washington. The PTBFF is looking for black filmmakers to submit films, including shorts, feature narrative films, and feature documentaries.
To reserve tickets to see Dark and Tender at the Rose, please click here for November 1 and here for November 2. Both showings are at the Rose Theatre from 7-9pm.
We look forward to exploring a variety of film and film-related topics in the months to come. Want to propose a topic? Send your thoughts to: info@ptfilm.org.
