Sultana Isham: The Neutral Ground (AFI Docs Film Festival)

In December 2015, the New Orleans City Council voted to remove four Confederate monuments from public grounds. A forceful group of critics protested the decision, and fearing retaliation, no crew would agree to remove the statues. To comedian and writer CJ Hunt, these protestors’ fanatical loyalty to the losing side of a 160 year-old war seemed like ideal material for a short, satirical internet video. But as he filmed the conflict surrounding the monuments, a bigger story began to reveal itself.

Harrowing, smart, and bitterly funny, Hunt’s documentary The Neutral Ground confronts the Lost Cause—the Southern campaign that mythified the Confederacy—with refreshing clarity. With New Orleans as the main backdrop of the story, the film expands its scope to the country at large, bringing to light the fabricated histories born out of the Civil War and the hard truths much of America has yet to face about slavery. Throughout, Hunt’s radical openness leads to staggering, often personal conversations with advocates and opponents of Confederate monuments alike. Turning a sharp eye to the tangled thread between past and present, The Neutral Ground targets necessary change centuries in the making that might—finally—be catching up to itself. —Jose Rodriguez