World Premiere in Documentary Competition
Above is the rig owned by Desiree Wood, a long haul driver who is also an activist for change.
DRIVER: Tribeca Festival Screenings
Fri, June 7, 6:15 PM – AMC 19th St.-5
P&I: Sat June 8, 11:15 AM – AMC 19th St.-1
Sat, June 8, 5:15 PM – AMC 19th St.-1
Sat, June 15, 6:15 PM – AMC 19th St.-5
*P&I screening is for Tribeca-accredited press & industry only
Attending: Director Nesa Azimi and film participants Desiree Wood, Michelle Kitchin, Idella Hansen and Debbie “Dingo” Desiderato
This Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of Women Long Haulers Isn’t Just About Women
DRIVER has the soul of a kinetically charged, action-adventure movie suffused with a sultry, take no prisoners charm daring audiences to consider that progressive change can be wrought even in these times of pressing issues that may seem insurmountable but can be addressed. DRIVER’s panache and storytelling prowess – with its slick of irreverent humor – is divinely entertaining on the one hand, but, according to its director, Nesa Azimi, it wasn’t made to be just audience entertainment.
This reviewer did not have the chance to interview Director Nesa Azimi so he could bounce his impressions and opinions off her to generate answers and responses to questions to write his review – that’s fact, not a lament. Her Director’s Statement, nevertheless, is a fountain of information.
Director Nesa Azimi.
Azimi said she wanted to make DRIVER in order to tell a consummate story in the way that committed ethnographers who make films do when they want to if not blow the smithereens out of falsehoods, untruths and the like, but, at least pursue the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in setting up a dynamic that can make things happen.
This film shines a klieg-type light on Desiree Wood and her circle of friends and allies and their communities, and is an authentic representation of their spirits and tenacity, writes Azimi in her Director’s Statement provided to those who want to review a film. More than characters defined by plight and circumstances, audiences can learn that Desiree Wood and her friends are tough, hilarious, multifaceted women, formidably committed people whose lives are imperiled by corporate and public indifference, but who live through the Sturm und Dang with dignity and strength.
Azimi says she left a TV gig five years ago to make her feature film. She believed that a source relationship as close as possible with Desiree Wood could be invaluable to what the filmmaker wanted to do. Wood is not only a long hauler but is also an activist for change – and someone who could give access and help shine light on an otherwise invisible, parallel world in a visceral way.
Free from the constraints and pressures of a newsroom, Azimi writes, she was able to take a durational approach with the film, prioritizing an emotional connection to the women at the center of the film while capturing their experience in a real, less mediated way.
“Sharing the cab of an 18-wheeler with Desiree is like going to the movies —you buckle in and everything else falls away,” she writes. “There’s nothing like the drama of the road — the intensity, movement and sound. It’s a whole body experience.”
“Being invited into the rumbling cab of Desiree’s truck is to look at the road, the beauty and the vastness of the country, and the labor of driving through her eyes—while suspended 12-feet up above the world of four-wheelers.”
Readers Please Note: One of the exquisite qualities of this film is that Azimi brings audiences along for the ride.
“Under the surface of the sheer excitement is the constant tension of the outside world intruding upon the interior of the cab, threatening to take it all away. At times, the film, like life on the truck, can take on a dreamlike meditative quality. The truck cab is at once home, safety, a compartment of privacy—producing the conditions for a rich interior life—and in other moments it can feel like a pressure cooker.”
“DRIVER stays close to Desiree through the ups and downs of her daily life, culminating in the central drama of the film — the loss of her truck and livelihood, and with it the certainty of her identity as a driver.”
“Through it all, she works hard to maintain her community of fellow drivers, across stretches of highway, thousands of miles apart. They provide solace to one another in an industry that otherwise sees drivers as anonymous and disposable, and conspires to keep them apart. Despite this alienating condition, Desiree and her friends resist in favor of a more collective way of living and working.”
Desiree Wood.
Bios
Nesa Azimi – Director/Writer/Producer/Editor
Nesa is a director, producer and editor living in New York City. She started out at The Maysles Documentary Center and has since been on staff as a producer for Rain Media, PBS FRONTLINE, FAULT LINES on Al Jazeera, National Geographic, and the Ciné Institute of Haiti. Three films she helped produce for FRONTLINE were recognized with Emmy Awards. Nesa is a former fellow with the Sundance Institute, NYSCA/NYFA, the Firelight Documentary Lab, and the Points North Institute. DRIVER is her first feature film.
Nicolas Borel – Writer/Producer/Editor
Nicolas is an artist, filmmaker, designer and educator based in New York City and Istanbul. His work takes place primarily outside of existing institutional contexts, and he has organized and participated in exhibitions in the US, the Netherlands and Turkey. He graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, and he currently teaches at The New School and Pratt Institute in New York.
Ines Hofmann Kanna – Producer
Ines is an independent filmmaker with more than 25 years of production experience. She produced Sonia Kennebeck’s Emmy-nominated NATIONAL BIRD (Berlinale 2016) ENEMIES OF THE STATE (TIFF 2020) and REALITY WINNER (SXSW 2021) as well as Cecilia Aldarondo’s LANDFALL (Tribeca 2020) and YOU WERE MY FIRST BOYFRIEND (SXSW 2023). She began her career at Boston’s PBS station, WGBH, where she worked on the hit series ANTIQUES ROADSHOW for ten years. She also worked as a Supervising Producer for ITVS, where she guided more than thirty filmmakers from production to broadcast.
Qutaiba Barhamji – Consulting Editor. An award-winning editor and director based in Paris. He has edited more than 50 films including both feature documentaries and fiction films. His films have been shown at Cannes, Venice, Sundance, IDFA, Rotterdam, and beyond. Among his works as editor are FOUR DAUGHTERS (Oscar-nominated for Best Documentary, Best Documentary at Cannes Film Festival 2023), SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD (Sundance 2023), HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND (2022) and STILL RECORDING (Venice 2018). His feature-length documentary film as director, GEVAR’S LAND (Cinéma du Réel 2020), participated in more than 30 festivals.
Carissa Henderson – Director of Photography. An Emmy-nominated documentary cinematographer based in New York City. After earning a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Carissa spent three years as a staff cinematographer for VICE on HBO’s Emmy award-winning nightly news show. In recent years she has worked on documentaries for The New York Times, VICE News Tonigh, and Al Jazeera English.
She recently served as DP on three feature vérité documentaries: SUE BIRD: IN THE CLUTCH (Sundance 2024), DRIVER (Tribeca 2024) and a film about following a team of multidisciplinary athletes as they strive to make a historic all-Black summit on Mount Everest (for release in 2024). She is currently working on a long-term documentary project closely following NASA’s Artemis Program for National Geographic.
Victor Tadashi Suárez – Director of Photography. An Emmy-winning filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Heis best known for his work on the FX Hulu series, THE NEW YORK TIMES PRESENTS, for which he was awarded the Edward R. Murrow Award from The Overseas Press Club as well as an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Video Journalism (COLLISION) and, in 2021, Outstanding Documentary Cinematography (THE SICARIO). He was the cinematographer for CONTROLLING BRITNEY SPEARS, which was nominated in 2022 for a Primetime Emmy.
He was also the DP for the ESPN 30 for 30 feature film, INFINITE RACE, and the PBS FRONTLINE film, COVID’S HIDDEN TOLL, which was shortlisted for a Peabody Award in 2021.
Udit Duseja – Composer & Sound Designer – is a sound designer and composer currently based in London. Since 2008, he has honed his approach to explore the intersection between sound and music, creating experimental sonic experiences across many genres and forms. He has worked with filmmakers and artists on narrative features, shorts, multi-channel film installations, and documentaries.
Some highlights include SAFE (Garrett Bradley, 2022), ALL LIGHT EVERYWHERE (Theo Anthony, Sundance Winner, 2021), AMERICA (Garrett Bradley, Sundance Film Festival, 2019), YEH BALLET (Sooni Taraporevala, Netflix Feature, 2020), DADDY (Ashim Ahluwalia, 2017), MIMESIS: AFRICAN SOLDIER (John Akomfrah, 2018), PRECARITY (John Akomfrah, 2017), and PURPLE (John Akomfrah, 2017).
Anne Balay – Story Advisor – graduated with a PhD from the University of Chicago, after which she promptly became a car mechanic. Though she later returned to academia as a professor both at the University of Illinois and Indiana University Northwest, she never lost her interest in blue-collar work environments.
Dr. Balay moved to Gary, Indiana, to teach and immediately became interested in the steel industry of the region. She subsequently wrote Steel Closets, a book about the LGBT workers within the mill community. Anne then attended commercial truck-driving school, got her CDL, and drove over the road. Oral histories of truck drivers she pursued in 2016 have led to her new book, Semi Queer. Anne is now an organizer for SEIU working with adjunct faculty in Saint Louis.
Jessica Green – Impact Producer – is an independent film curator and impact producer. She is currently curating film, speaker and performance-focused programs for the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Museum of the City of New York. She is also working with several independent non-fiction filmmakers on impact strategies for their films. Jessica served as the Artistic Director of the Houston Cinema Arts Society from 2019-2022 and the Houston Cinema Arts Festival.
She was the Cinema Director of the Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem from 2008-2018. Jessica is also a former founder, owner and Editor-In-Chief of the independent Hip-Hop magazine Stress (1994-2001), as well as the former Executive Editor of BET.com.
Editor, Reviewer Gregg W. Morris
Gregg W. Morris can be reached at gregghc@comcast.net, profgreggwmorris@gmail.com