Filmmaker Bios
CJ Hunt | Director & Writer
CJ Hunt is a comedian and filmmaker living in NYC. He 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. website
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.
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.
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).
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.
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."
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.
Production Companies
THE NEUTRAL GROUND is co-production of One Drop Pictures, POV and ITVS, in association with the Center for Asian American Media. A co-presentation of Black Public Media and the Center for Asian American Media.
Full Credit Roll
Directed by
CJ Hunt
Produced by
Darcy McKinnon
Editor
Jane Geisler
Executive Producers
Roy Wood Jr.
Sally Jo Fifer
Executive Producer for CAAM
Stephen Gong
Executive Producers for American Documentary | POV
Erika Dilday, Justine Nagan and Chris White
Director of Photography
Paavo Hanninen
Co-Producer
Jeremy Blum
Supervising Producer
Shana Swanson
Consulting Producer
Angela Tucker
Associate Producer
Katie Pham Jennifer Samani Rachel Witwer
Archival Producer
Amy Rodrigue
Writing
CJ Hunt Jane Geisler
and James Hamilton
Original Score
Sultana Isham
Archival Research by
Jane Geisler CJ Hunt Heather Riley Katie Tapper Ivy Wang
Motion Graphics by
Charlie LaVoy
Secondary Camera
Jeremy Blum
Additional Shooting by
- Abdul Aziz
- Lindsey Phillips
- John Carlo Monti
- Cameron Wheeless
- Zac Manuel
- Ben Simmons
- Nisa East
- Abe Felix
- Melissa McLain
- David Pittman
- Ryan Bedall
- Zuri Obi Louis
- Eric Foster
Sound Recording
Derek Rocque
Additional Sound Recording
- James Page
- Ian Painter
- Jonah Carmena
- Emily Strong
- Andrew Uvarov
- Lee Garcia
Assistant Editing
- Brent Joseph
- Melinda Tran
Stills Photography
Abdul Aziz
Fact Checking
Kayla Lattimore
Production Assistants
- Merlin Ramsey
- Melinda Tran
- Lemar Arceneaux
On-line Editor
Bradley Greer, Wendy Greer
On-line Facility
Kyoto Color
Sound Designer / Re-Recording Mixer
Eli Cohn
Dialogue Editors
Josh Ascalon, A.J. Robb
SFX Editor
Jack Sasner
Sound Mix Facility
Nocturnal Sound
Locations Coordination
Emily Wyman, Richmond VA
Legal Services
- Fernando Ramirez, Esq.
- Peter Jaszi
- Scott Sternberg
Historical Advisor
Erin Greenwald
Featuring
- CJ’s Dad
- Mitch Landrieu
- Jason Williams
- Michael “Quess” Moore
- Christy Coleman
- Thomas Taylor
- Karen Cox
- Malcolm Suber
- Butterbean and Dan
- Ashley Rogers
- Dr. Ibrahima Seck
- Abdul Aziz
- Freddi Williams Evans
- Luther Gray
- Dread Scott
Archival Photos Courtesy of
- American Civil War Museum
- American Museum of Natural History
- AP Images
- Collegiate Academies
- Getty Images
- HathiTrust
- Historic New Orleans Collection
- J Paul Getty Museum
- Library of Congress
- Missouri Historical Society
- National Archives
- National Parks Service
- New Orleans Public Libraries
- Research Center of the Utah State Archives and Utah State History
- Shutterstock
- The Advocate
- The Times Picayune
- The Valentine
- Tulane University Library Special Collections
- University of Virginia
- Virginia Military Institute
Archival Footage Courtesy of
- ABC News
- Al Jazeera America
- Associated Press
- CBS Evening News
- CBS Los Angeles
- CBS This Morning
- Divided City (TSC LLC)
- Fox News
- JoLu Productions
- KCAL9
- KPRC
- National Archives
- NBC News
- New Orleans CIty Council
- Prelinger Archives
- Pond5
- The New York Times
- The Sun
- The Times-Picayune
- The Washington Post
- Thomas Van De Pas (via Newsflare)
- WDSU
Music
- Score Production
- Joy Music House
Score Producer
Sultana Isham, Catherine Joy, Joseph Berg
Score Supervisor
Robinton Hobbs
Orchestrators
Sultana Isham, Edith Mudge, Dabney Morris
Copying
Joseph Carrillo
Mixed by
Joseph Berg, Brian Taylor
Choir
THE WEST LOS ANGELES CHILDREN'S CHOIR
Choir Director
Barbara Silberg
String Orchestra
FAME’S MUSIC ORCHESTRAL RECORDING
Conductor
Oleg Kondratenko
Orchestra Members
- Sarah Robinson (Flute)
- Phil Popham (Oboe)
- Virginia Figueiredo (Clarinet)
- Owen Callahan (Clarinet)
- - VIRGINIA FIGUEIREDO, OWEN CALLAHAN
- Miles Lyons (Tuba)
- Jonah Levy (Trumpet)
- Xavier Molina (Trumpet)
- Hannah Krieger-Benson (Trumpet)
- Preston Shepard (Horn)
- Bobak Lotfipour (Percussion)
- Peter J. Bowling (Bass)
- Boyanna Trayanova (Drums)
- Sultana Isham (Piano, Harpsichord, Strings and Electronics)
Songs
“Who’s Rockin’, Who’s Rollin’”
Written by Philip Frazier, Keith Frazier, Derrick Tabb, Stafford Agee, Gregory Veals, Derrick Shezbie, Chadrick Honore, Vincent Broussard
Performed by Rebirth Brass Band Courtesy of Basin Street Records
“Progress”
Written by Anthony Gullage Jr., Chad A. Roby Performed by Kr3wcial
Courtesy of Outlander Entertainment
“Dixie”
Written by Traditional
Performed by Karen Elson with The Secret Sisters Courtesy of ATO Records
“Dixie”
Written by Traditional
Performed by Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball Courtesy of Verve Label Group, UMG
Special Thanks
- The Hunts
- The Mayben-Schmitts Elizabeth McKinnon Liz Beeson
- Erik Blake
- Graham Cumberbatch Lauren Kushner Jenny Slattery
- Penny Lane Christine Turner Chenjerai Kumanyika The Buntons
- Jeniffer Maloney Chirstopher Graham Agnieszka Czeblakow Scott Hutcheson
- Laine Kaplan Levinson Bob Snead
- Ed Bell Hunter Burke Don Lewis Dane Rhodes Dylan Hunter
- Robert LaRivierre Jim Gleason Elizabeth Hutchison Dave Davis
- Owen Legendre Kara Welker Jen Flanz
- Eric Davies Jo Honig NOVAC
- Molly Mitchell Justin Nystrom Bill Quigley Kevin Litten
- Flozell Daniels, Jr. Bryan Lee Jr
- Sue Mobley
Production support provided by
- Firelight Media
- New America’s Fellows Program
- Funding provided by Ford Foundation SFFILM
- Southern Documentary Fund
- New Music USA - Reel Change: Fund for Diversity in Film Scoring New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation
THE NEUTRAL GROUND is a co-production of One Drop Pictures, the Independent Television Service (ITVS), with funding provided by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and American Documentary | POV.
This program was produced by One Drop Pictures which is solely responsible for its content.