April 3-6, 2022

The Neutral Ground

Synopsis

The Neutral Ground documents New Orleans’ fight over monuments and America’s troubled romance with the Lost Cause. In 2015, director CJ Hunt was filming the New Orleans City Council’s vote to remove four confederate monuments. But when that removal is halted by death threats, CJ sets out to understand why a losing army from 1865 still holds so much power in America.

Filmmaker Biography

A comedian and filmmaker living in NYC, CJ Hunt (Director) 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.

Schedule

In-person:

University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Wilmington, NC. 3/3/2022 at 7:30 pm ET
Clayton Center for the Arts. Maryville, TN. 3/21/2022 at 7:00 pm ET
WSLR. Sarasota, FL. 3/23/2022 at 5:30 pm ET
East Tennessee State University, Mary B. Martin School of the Arts. Johnson City, TN. 4/4/2022 at 7:00 pm ET
a/perture cinema. Winston-Salem, NC. 4/6/2022 at 7:00 pm ET
Fisk University & Global Education Center. Nashville, TN. 4/22/2022 at 7:00 pm ET
Coleman Center for the Arts. York, AL. 4/24/2022 at 6:30 pm CT
Delta State University, Bologna Arts Center. Cleveland, MS. 4/25/2022 at 6:00 pm CT
Western Carolina University, Bardo Arts Center. Cullowheee, NC. TBA May 2022