About
Gusto Moving Pictures is an independent documentary production company based in New Orleans. We specialize in films that are rooted in the places we call home. We believe in working with local filmmakers to tell local stories. We believe in cultivating local talent from emerging storytellers, artists and technicians. Our budgets and productions strive to have an authentic and ethical relationship with our collaborators.
Darcy McKinnon
Producer, Principal
darcy@gustomovingpictures.com
Darcy McKinnon is a documentary filmmaker based in New Orleans, whose work focuses on the American South and the Caribbean. Recently released projects include A King Like Me and Roleplay, premiering at SXSW 2024, Commuted, the winner of the New Orleans Film Festival Audience Award and Best Louisiana Documentary (PBS, 2024), Algiers, America, winner of the NOFF23 Audience Award (Hulu, 2023), Under G-d (Sundance 2023), Look at Me! XXXTENTACION (SXSW, Hulu, 2022) and News & Doc Emmy-nominated The Neutral Ground (Tribeca, POV, 2021), recipient of Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Documentary of the Year 2022.
Current projects in production include Jason Fitzroy Jeffers’ The First Plantation, Abe Felix’s Turnaround, CJ Hunt’s Unlearned and Suzannah Herbert’s Natchez. Development projects include films by Nailah Jefferson, Cyrus Moussavi, Zac Manuel and more. Her work has been on POV, Reel South, LPB, Cinemax and Hulu, and has screened at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, CPH:DOX and more. Darcy is an alum of the Impact Partners Producing Fellowship and the Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellowship, and a recipient of American Documentary’s Creative Visionary Award in 2023.
Rachel Witwer
Producer
rachel@gustomovingpictures.com
Rachel Witwer’s background is in arts management and public health. She is a producer on Jason Fitzroy Jeffers’ The First Plantation and Marion Hill’s short “Uncle at sea (Chú đi biển)” (New Orleans Film Festival, 2022). She line produces Gusto projects. An operations professional proficient in spinning many plates, she also finds time to support the international health organization LearnToLive and operations for the New Orleans Video Access Center (NOVAC). Born in DC and based in New Orleans, she’s also a non-fiction podcast fangirl.
Katie Pham
Associate Producer +
katie@gustomovingpictures.com
Katie Pham is a born-and-raised New Orleanian, and connects the dots at Gusto through field producing, archival research and distribution. She’s a Co-Producer on Roleplay (dir. Katie Mathews) and From Way Downtown (dir. Paavo Hanninen) and an Associate Producer on The Neutral Ground (dir. CJ Hunt), Commuted (dir. Nailah Jefferson) and Natchez (dir. Suzannah Herbert). As a freelance producer, she’s also producing projects including The Gardeners (dir. Crystal Kayiza), Talking Tiki (dir. Casey Beck and Asali Echols), Chinatown Down South (dir. Nancy Lauland). She also has experience in film festival operations, at festivals including the New Orleans Film Festival and Overlook Film Festival.
ALENA COVER
Assistant Editor
Alena Cover is from Iowa and based in New Orleans. She is an assistant editor on The First Plantation (dir. Jason Fitzroy Jeffers), Unlearned (dir. CJ Hunt), Turnaround (dir. Abe Felix), and Kinfolk (dir. Nicole Craine). Outside of Gusto, she edited the documentary short “The Buzz of St Roch” (dir. Patrice Jones, Carl Harrison). Previous experience includes assistant editing on Emeril Cooks and Miss Universe.