“The Truck” Trailer
Against the simmering anxieties of post-Roe America, Jo, 16, and Arash, her boyfriend, attempt to buy the morning-after pill in a small town where reproductive rights are contested and quietly policed.
THE TRUCK is an urgent, gripping look at Teen Love and The Freedom to choose in This America right now.
Liz Rao brings her unique vision as a Screenwriter and Director who is Unafraid to Provoke and Dares to Speak Truth to Power, and does it in High Style.
— SPIKE LEE
Liz Rao’s striking voice as writer and director transforms a coming-of-age tale into a visceral look at power dynamics in America. With poetry and courage, The Truck offers a pressing and much-needed perspective on our current moment.
Evoking layered and nuanced performances from Shirley Chen and Daniel Zolghadri as two love-crossed teenagers in trouble, THE TRUCK brings to life a quietly chilling and powerful story.
— JOAN CHEN
Against the simmering anxieties of post-Roe America, Jo, 16, and Arash, her boyfriend, attempt to buy the morning-after pill in a small town where reproductive rights are contested and quietly policed.
Executive Producers JOAN CHEN and SPIKE LEE
Starring SHIRLEY CHEN, DANIEL ZOLGHADRI, and GARRETT RICHMOND
With DUVALL O'STEEN and BRIAN MCCARTHY
a GOLDEN MEDINA FILMS and ZAZA PRODUCTION
Writer-Director LIZ RAO
Producer ELIZA SOROS
Co-Writer JONATHAN FRED SCHNEIDER
Director of Photography GIANNA BADIALI
Casting Directors KATE ANTOGNINI and CHARLOTTE ARNOUX, CSA
Production Design MARIANNE AUVINET GOULD
Co-Executive Producers LINHAO ZHANG and JUNGYOON KIM
Co-Producer YUANLI ZHOU
Associate Producers MANYA GLASSMAN and LORA CRINER
Editor ANDREW MIGLIORI
Music by OREL TAMUZ
Colorist BENJAMIN HANDLER
Production Sound Mixer NIGAM BHANDARI
Sound Design ROTEM DROR
With Additional Sound Mix and Sound Design by HAINA ZHOU
Art Director REBECCA YEONG AE MZENGI COREY
Costume Designer LAUREN CARMEN
Costume Consultant JASMINE LEWIS
1st AC JASON MASELLE
2nd AC GABI AZEVEDO
Gaffer CHARLIE THEOBALD
Key Grip HUNTER STARK
1st Assistant Director MC HARVEY
Unit Production Manager TERRENCE SHU
Hair and Make-Up Artist and Wardrober RACHAEL SONNENBERG
Rigging Grip GULAB SINGH
Intimacy Coordinators BAHAR BAHARLOO and ALEXANDRA TYDINGS
Poster Design and Thumbnail Design SHIPEI WANG
Title Design CADE FEATHERSTONE
Director’s Assistant ANNA ZHANG
With Additional Original Music by GILAD BARAKAN
“Your Baby Blues” vocals by ANDY BRAME
“Jo’s song” vocals by SHIRLEY CHEN
“Tardigrades” vocals by LIZ RAO
Made With the Generous Support of
Mariana, Yuval, Oren, Maya and Michal Neria
Daniell Hudson
Fractured Atlas
ARRI Rental
Hand Held Films
Gotham Sound and Communications
Joseph Bailey, From Europe to You
Ravi K. Nandigama, McCarthy’s Pharmacy
Lauren Osterman, Town of Stanford
Christa Cerul, Stanford Free Library
Very Special Thanks
Noam Argov
Eleven Bruno
Jackson Bull
Mick Casale
Miguel Cedillo
Trish Crist
Caryn Coleman
Josephine Decker
Dr. Mary Jo Gilmer
Shuli Huang
Tony Janelli
Billy Kent
Sulwyn Lok
Tom Mangan
Eurus Meng
Peter Newman
Andreas Nicholas
Krista Parris
Carmia Schneider
Barbara Schock
Julia Solomonoff
Todd Solondz
Erica Steiner
Dr. Arnold Strauss
John Tintori
David Usui
Ubaldo Vargas
Jane Wu
Haina Zhou
Julie Zhu
Sameh Zoabi
This film was made possible by generous grants from The Future of Film is Female, The Clive J. Davis Foundation and produced at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television, with fiscal sponsorship from Fractured Atlas.
Copyright © 2024
All Rights Reserved
PRESS
Spike Lee, Joan Chen Board Liz Rao’s Short ‘The Truck,’ a Post-Roe Thriller, as EPs
”Our narrative award went to Elizabeth Rao’s “The Truck,” a film that works in both the micro and the macro, telling a story of two teenagers (Shirley Chen & Daniel Zolghadri) trying to obtain a morning-after pill in an area of the country where that’s becoming increasingly difficult. Beautifully shot and tenderly performed, it’s a special short"
—Brian Tallerico, Roger Ebert.com
“‘The Truck” arrives with the urgency of a headline and the intimacy of a diary entry.
Shirley Chen and Daniel Zolghadri deliver emotionally raw, quietly devastating performances that ground the political in the personal.”
— Nolan Carr, We Love Short Film, Oscar Momentum Builds for Liz Rao’s Unshakable ‘The Truck’
“(“THE TRUCK”) blends the romance of Americana—open roads, convenience-store lights, dusty afternoons—with the lurking menace of a country tightening its grip on bodily autonomy.
Verdict: A Quiet Thunderbolt. The Truck feels like a fuse lit at exactly the right cultural moment.”
— Jane Broder, Arts Muse Magazine, Film Review: The Truck — Fierce, Intimate Short Poised for Oscar Attention, Powered by a Rising Female Director
”In an era when reproductive rights in the United States are increasingly contested, Liz Rao’s “The Truck” arrives with the clarity and force of a filmmaker who understands both the urgency of the moment and the quietness with which fear often settles into the lives of young people.
She captures the way girls learn to assess danger, the ways they whisper their fears, the ways their bodies move through spaces where authority is both omnipresent and opaque.
The film is not simply about a young couple trying to secure a morning after pill, it is about the surveillance of female bodies in a country sliding backwards, and the deeply human cost of that regression.”
— Film and TV Business, The Truck — Liz Rao’s Fierce, Tender Entry into Asian American Cinema and the Academy Awards
WE LOVE SHORT FILMS favorite OSCAR-Qualified Short Films of 2025
OSCAR CONTENDING SERIES – Filmmaker Liz Rao on Power, Adolescence, and Post-Roe America
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
26 Nov - LONDON 8.30pm
@ Riverside Studios 101 Queen Caroline Street
*followed by Reception @ Kensington Roof Gardens
RSVP @ sk@londonflairpr.com
4 Dec - SUN VALLEY 5.00pm
@ Opera House 1 Sun Vly Rd E
Shorts Program 1 - Sun Valley Film Festival
4 Dec - LOS ANGELES 7.00pm
@ Malibu Film Society
4767 Commons Way
Calabasas CA 91302
9 Dec - AUSTIN 7.30p
@ Austin Film Society
Vimeo Staff Picks Screening
RSVP
*LIVE Director's Commentary Event
*9-11pm Reception to follow
14 Dec - SÃO PAULO
@ Cinema Reag Belas Artes
São Paulo Film Festival