Kiara C. Jones

Kiara C. Jones is an American film and television director, writer, and producer. She is the founder of Cultivated Films LLC.

Early life and education Kiara Jones is the daughter of parents from The Bronx and Brooklyn. When she was five-years-old her family moved to Jacksonville, Florida. In 1992, she graduated from Wolfson High School.

Career Film and television Jones is a writer, producer, and director with the company she runs, Cultivated Films, LLC. She debuted as a feature filmmaker with Christmas Wedding Baby, which won the Directors Guild of America Grand Jury Award and aired on BET and Netflix. She then directed 21 and Done, a documentary on children aging out of foster care which won Best Documentary at Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival and was a "Films With a Purpose (FWAP)" selection in 2018. From 2018-2022, she worked as a producer on the film A Woman on the Outside, which profiles the founder of a transportation service and nonprofit dedicated to helping families maintain connections with incarcerated loved ones.

Awards and recognition

Award Work Year Notes References Directors Guild of America Grand Jury Award Christmas Wedding Baby 2015 BlackStar Film Festival Independent Spirit Award Nominee She’s Lost Control 2014 Best Documentary A Woman on the Outside 2022 Mammoth Lakes Film Festival and American Black Film Festival Writers Guild of America FilmNation NY Fellowship – 2020 Screenwriters Fellowship ScreenCraft Film Fund – 2021 Sony Diverse Directors Program – – NYC Women's Fund – 2020 Media, Music, and Theatre Best Documentary A Woman on the Outside – Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival IFP Filmmaker Lab – 2020 Documentary, Narrative, and Episodic Labs Trans Atlantic Partners Producing Fellow – 2017 BRIO Award for Screenwriting – – Bronx Council on the Arts Best Director Christmas Wedding Baby 2015 Pan African Film Festival Best Narrative Feature Christmas Wedding Baby 2015 BlackStar Film Festival