Raven Jackson

• Born — 1990 • Birthplace — Tennessee, U.S. • Education — * Austin Peay State University • New York University Tisch School of the Arts • Occupation — Filmmaker • Notable Works — All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (2023) • Awards — United States Artists Fellowship (2026), Guggenheim Fellowship (2025)

Raven Jackson was born in 1990 in Tennessee, to a mother from Mississippi. She is a native of Clarksville, Tennessee, and "grew up fishing on the Cumberland River". She graduated from Austin Peay State University in 2012, and she obtained her first MFA at The New School's writing program. Despite being uncertain about filmmaking without a background of technical experience, she decided to apply to New York University, and she obtained another MFA from New York University Tisch School of the Arts's graduate film program. Her NYU thesis film was called Nettles, and it appeared at the 2019 Slamdance Film Festival. She later released another short film, A Guide To Breathing Underwater (2018). She and Leigh Ann Biety co-wrote "The Myth of California", a 2022 episode of the Apple TV+ series Surface. Her feature film debut All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, which she directed and wrote, was released in 2023. She then received several personal nominations, including the 2023 Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Director, the 2023 Chicago Film Critics Association Milos Stehlik Award for Breakthrough Filmmaker, and the 2024 Black Reel Award for Outstanding Emerging Director and for Outstanding Breakthrough Screenwriter. In 2024, she directed the music video for Common's song "Dreamin'". In 2025, she was awarded a Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 2026, she was named a United States Artists (USA) Fellow. She is also a poet, with one of her poems having the same name as her feature film debut.

• Award — Date of ceremony — Category — Recipient(s) — Result — Reference(s) • Sundance Film Festival — January 27, 2023 — Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Competition — All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt • San Sebastián International Film Festival — September 30, 2023 — Golden Shell • RTVE-Another Look Award: Special Mention • SIGNIS Award • Ghent International Film Festival — October 21, 2023 — Best Film • Chicago International Film Festival — October 22, 2023 — Gold Hugo • Montclair Film Festival — October 29, 2023 — Breakthrough Director & Writer Award — Raven Jackson • Gotham Independent Film Awards — November 27, 2023 — Breakthrough Director • National Board of Review — December 6, 2023 — Top 10 Independent Films — All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt • IndieWire Critics Poll — December 11, 2023 — Best First Feature — All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt — 2nd Place • Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — December 12, 2023 — Best Editing • Milos Stehlik Award for Breakthrough Filmmaker — Raven Jackson • Florida Film Critics Circle Awards — December 21, 2023 — Best First Film • Black Reel Awards — January 16, 2024 — Outstanding Independent Film — All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt • Outstanding Emerging Director — Raven Jackson • Outstanding First Screenplay • Independent Spirit Awards — February 25, 2024 — Best First Feature — Raven Jackson, Maria Altamirano, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, and Adele Romanski