HOW DARK MY LOVE

description

Controversial painter Joe Coleman, known for his intricate portraits of serial killers and outlaws, undertakes his most challenging subject yet – a seven foot portrait of his wife, Whitney.

At the heart of this visceral and unexpectedly tender film is a love story like no other––between notorious outsider painter Joe Coleman and his wife and muse of 25 years, Whitney Ward. Known for his intricate portraits of serial killers and outcasts, Coleman turns his obsessive gaze on Whitney in his most personal and ambitious work yet: a towering portrait that lays bare her entire life. As the masterpiece comes to light, so does the complexity of their relationship, where love, art, and intimacy blur in a high-stakes act of trust. Stylistically mirroring Coleman’s own layered, non-linear work, the film is a rich, visceral experience that defies documentary biographical conventions. Director Scott Gracheff blends vérité and archival material to create a hypnotic journey, teetering between wincing at the grotesque and adoring the beauty from the love story that unfolds.

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Tribeca Film Festival 2025
Athens International Film Festival 2025

DIRECTOR'S BIO
Scott Gracheff is a Multi-Emmy Award-Winning Director and Producer with over 25 years experience in Film and TV production. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he learned filmmaking at an early age and still owns his coveted Chinon 200/8XL Super 8mm camera (and it still works too!). He cut his teeth in the trenches of PBS before moving to NYC in 2009. His documentary directing work includes, THE RUGBY PLAYER, winner of multiple festival awards including the HBO Audience Award for Best Documentary from The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival; the 2008 Emmy Award Nominated SOLDADOS, which aired along with THE WAR, Ken Burn's landmark PBS series about WWII; the award-winning DAVE TATSUNO: MOVIES AND MEMORIES; and the 2004 Emmy Award Winner RETURN TO THE VALLEY. Scott was a co-producer on OUT IN THE NIGHT, which won numerous festival Jury and Audience awards and was featured on the PBS series P.O.V.