Podtalk: Filmmaker Raven Jackson for ‘All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt’

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CHICAGO – Reflective and observational films … as if the audience is inside looking out along with the the characters … are very rare and takes a quality creator to pull off. One such film is “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” and it is written and directed by a quality creator, the poet-turned-filmmaker Raven Jackson.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

The film is a visual tone poem, as a woman named Mack (Charleen McClure) goes from her childhood to adulthood learning her life lessons – with its growth, loves, heartache and memories – as a black woman in Mississippi, with her sister ally Josie (Moses Ingram) and various friends, lovers and family.

’All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,’ Written & Directed by Raven Jackson (inset)
Photo credit: A24

The film harkens back to an obvious influence, Julie Dash’s “Daughters of the Dust” (1991), but with a different story and a current generational point of view. Filmmaker Raven Jackson is contemplative in her energies, and is able to create those meditations as visual truth. The film is deliberate and a slow walk, but the characters wash over their lives with authentic emotions and actions, including interconnections with the nature around them. Ms. Jackson, who is also a poet, had previous acclaim with her short films “Nettles” and “A Guide to Breathing.”

In a Podtalk with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, writerdirector Raven Jackson talks creation and the art of fishing …

Trailer, “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” …

By PATRICK McDONALD Editor and Film Critic/Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com