Raven Jackson

Raven Jackson (born 1990) is an American filmmaker and television writer. A graduate of the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, she released several short films before making her feature film debut with All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt. She is a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow.

Biography Raven Jackson was born in 1990 in Tennessee, to a mother from Mississippi. 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. 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. 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.

Accolades AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipient(s)ResultSundance 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 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 AwardsJanuary 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