ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT Discovery

Award-winning poet, photographer and filmmaker Raven Jackson makes her feature-length debut (produced by Barry Jenkins under his Pastel banner) with a poetic chronicle of Mack, a young Black woman from Mississippi. Eschewing traditional narrative conventions, Jackson weaves through time to capture intimate moments throughout Mack’s life from childhood to adulthood, frequently focusing on tender, physical expressions of love like two hands held together in a warm embrace. The stunning 35mm photography gives a rare tactility to these images that evokes a strong reaction, as if we could reach out and enfold ourselves in these embraces as well. The expressive sound design also captures the chirps and twangs of rural life to paint a magical memory of the meditative type of life unique to the American South. –Javier Chavez