Kelly Reichardt was born in Miami, Florida in 1964. After making her debut feature film River of Grass, this screenwriter, and director dedicated herself for a long time to the short film form. She returned to feature-length filmmaking with Old Joy which, like First Cow, is based on a story by the American novelist Jonathan Raymond. Reichardt’s films have screened and won prizes at international festivals. She also teaches at Bard College. The most recent of several retrospectives of her work took place in 2017 at the Museum of Modern Art.