The Neutral Ground
directed by CJ Hunt
The Neutral Ground is a feature-length film following writer and comedian CJ Hunt as he documents the struggle to remove four Confederate monuments in his adopted city, exploring how we understand a collective history as a nation with a contentious past.
#TheNeutralGround is now available worldwide on iTunes, Vimeo, and Google Play. Stream it before your governor bans it.
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Meet the Team
CJ Hunt
Director & Writer
-
A comedian and filmmaker living in NYC, CJ is currently a field producer on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. He has also served as a staff writer for A&E's Black and White, and a field producer for BET's The Rundown with Robin Thede. Before working in late night, CJ spent nine years living in New Orleans where - in 2015 - he began filming what he thought would be a quick and easy confederate monument removal. CJ is an alumnus of Firelight Media's Doc Lab and New Orleans Film Festival's Emerging Voices program. He is also a 2020 New America Fellow and a regular host of The Moth. A graduate from Brown University's Africana Studies department, CJ is endlessly fascinated by race and comedy's ability to say what we can't.
-
@gocjhunt
http://gocjhunt.com
Jane Geisler
Editor
-
Jane is an editor and independent filmmaker based in New Orleans, Louisiana. She's worked her editing magic on documentary features, narrative and documentary shorts, web series, digital and broadcast commercial campaigns, branded content, political spots, and music videos. Jane is a member of the New Orleans chapter of Film Fatales, Women in Film and Television Louisiana, and serves as board secretary at Court 13 Arts. Films: As writer and/or director, Jane is most attracted to stories that feature complex women in nontraditional roles, as well as environmental themes and plots entrenched in Louisiana history and culture. Short films she has written, directed, or edited have screened at festivals in the US and Europe. Select Clients & Platforms: AFAR, NBC Universal, Toyota USA, GOODFest, COMPLEX, Zatarain's, Louisiana Office of Tourism, Louisiana Seafood, Whitney Bank, National Geographic Channel, today.com, A&E, ESPN. She recently debuted her first feature documentary edit, with director Lily Keber’s Buckjumping (2018
Angela Tucker
Consulting Producer
-
Angela Tucker is a writer, director and Emmy nominated producer who makes narrative and documentary films. Her latest film, “I can’t change 400 years in four” (co-directed with Kristi Jacobson) is streaming on Mother Jones and Independent Lens. Her directorial work includes “All Skinfolk, Ain’t Kinfolk”, a documentary short which aired on PBS’ Reel South; “All Styles” a dance narrative feature available on Showtime; “Black Folk Don’t”, a documentary web series featured in Time Magazine’s “10 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life”; and (A)sexual, a feature length documentary about people who experience no sexual attraction that streamed on Netflix and Hulu. She was the Co-Executive Producer of the PBS series AfroPoP and the Producer of Belly of the Beast (dir. Erika Cohn) which broadcast on PBS' Independent Lens and was a New York Times Critics Pick. Her production company, TuckerGurl, is passionate about stories that highlight underrepresented communities in unconventional ways. A Visiting Professor at Tulane University, Tucker was a Sundance Institute Women Filmmakers Initiative Fellow and a recipient of the inaugural William Greaves Fund from Firelight Media. She received her MFA in Film from Columbia University.
-
Roy Wood, Jr.
Executive Producer
-
Roy Wood Jr.’s comedy has entertained millions across stage, television and radio. In addition to stand-up comedy, producing and acting, Roy is currently a correspondent on Comedy Central's Emmy and NAACP Award winning The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. During his tenure, he has used The Daily Show’s brand of satire to shed light on serious issues including gun violence, police reform, LGBTQ+ discrimination, ICE deportations and PTSD in the Black community. Wood’s recent credits include guest starring roles in Netflix’s comedy series Space Force, AMC’s Better Call Saul, and The Last O.G. on TBS.
-
Paavo Hanninen
Director of Photography
-
Paavo was raised in Tuscaloosa, and after finishing his undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama, he moved to Austin, Texas where he pursued his MFA in Film Production at UT-Austin. In 2012 he moved to New Orleans where he works professionally as a cinematographer and director for commercials and documentaries. As a cinematographer, his work has been seen around the world at festivals including Sundance, Rotterdam, Clermont-Ferrand, and Rooftop Films among many others. As a director, his narrative shorts have screened at Austin Film Festival, Sun Valley Film Festival, and Berlinale Short Film Cloud among others and have been featured on a number of notable independent film platforms including NoBudge.com. His short film “I Think I’m Dying,” will premiere this summer on Shortoftheweek.com.
-
Darcy McKinnon
Producer
-
Darcy McKinnon is a documentary filmmaker based in New Orleans. McKinnon's work in documentaries includes the films Maquilapolis, Live, Nude, Girls, UNITE!, “Animals” and The Neutral Ground with CJ Hunt. With a background in education and arts organization leadership, she produces documentary work that focuses on the American South, and is currently in mid-production on Commuted with Nailah Jefferson, and Katie Mathews’ Roleplay, a hybrid play/documentary about student artist responses to campus sexual assault. She also co-directed a doc short, “A Fine Girl,” with support from If/Then. McKinnon's work has been broadcast on POV, LPB and Cinemax, and her current projects have received support from SFFILM, CAAM, Chicken and Egg, Firelight Media, ITVS, Black Public Media, Sundance and Tribeca. Darcy is a co-founder of ALL Y'ALL, with Elaine McMillion Sheldon, an alum of the Impact Partners Producing Fellowship, and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 2020 25 new faces in independent film.
Jeremy Blum
Co- Producer & Second Camera
-
Jeremy Blum is a producer, camera operator, and director based out of his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. He has produced and/or shot a variety of commercials, short films, and music videos, including for artists such as Big Freedia and Tank & the Bangas. He has also worked on multiple films and television shows, including Claws, American Horror Story, The Purge, 65, and Welcome to the Blumhouse, among others. He is currently producing on director Angela Tucker's "The Trees Remember," a series of short films for REI that feature Black women finding connection in the outdoors. He began his collaboration with CJ Hunt as Assistant Director on the web series, "Sunken City."
Additional Team
Sally Jo Fifer
Executive Producer for ITVS
Erika Dilday, Justine Nagan, and Chris White
Executive Producer for American Documentary/POV
Sultana Isham
Composer
About Sultana
James Hamilton
Writer
Courtney Symone Staton
Impact Producer
Derek Rocque
Sound Recording
Archival Producer
Amy Rodrigue
Music Supervisor
Sarah Bromberg
Associate Producers
Katie Pham
Jennifer Samani
Rachel Witwer
Archive & Research
Amy Rodrigue
Heather Riley
Post Team
Charlie LaVoy, Motion Graphics and FX
Bradley Greer, Kyoto Color, Online & Color
Eli Cohn, Nocturnal Sound, Sound Design
PRESS
LEH awards The Neutral Ground as Humanities Documentary Film of the Year
The Neutral Ground wins Best Documentary at American Black Film Festival
BFI: Making democracy wait
Convo: CJ Hunt joins #Sundance2022 to talk story with Kimberlé Crenshaw, David Blight, Nikyatu Jusu, and Viet Thanh Nguyen
Convo: Clint Smith and CJ Hunt
Convo: CJ Hunt & Roy Wood Jr. on Brown and Black Podcast
Convo: CJ Hunt & Darcy Mckinnon at AFI Docs
Variety: CJ Hunt Injects Humor Into the Debate Over Confederate Monuments
The Guardian: The war that never ended: the fight to remove America’s racist statues
LA Times: ‘The Neutral Ground’ takes on the willful ignorance of Confederate defenders
The Playlist: ‘The Neutral Ground’ Provides A Powerful Dissection Of The Lost Cause Myth
The Boston Globe: The Civil War Monumentalized
MSNBC: Director CJ Hunt's documentary examines 'absurdity of the Confederacy'
The Root: PBS POV Documentary The Neutral Ground
PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS
This film could not have been made without the support of:
