Led by an award-winning queer and trans film team, The Trans Trucker Project is a short documentary film that follows Ashleigh, a 24-year-old trans woman truck driver, as she traverses the American countryside en route back home to Florida.

It is a critical time to uplift trans stories, but it's also harder than ever to get these projects made. LGBTQ+ filmmakers have always turned to community to make and share their art. Your support will ensure we can move forward with production and get this powerful film to audiences as soon as possible!

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Ashleigh with her truck!

⭐ ABOUT THE FILM ⭐

You might be surprised to learn that trans women make up as much as 3% of big-rig truckers in the U.S. (that is ~90,000 drivers)! Trucking is a dangerous industry, but the open road also provides a sense of freedom, power, and unexpected community for queer and trans people who struggle to find belonging elsewhere.

Through intimate and honest vérité moments, The Trans Trucker Project will show how the same freedom and allure of truck driving that has inspired countless movies and songs offers vast appeal to trans workers like Ashleigh. The film offers a unique, nuanced vision of working-class trans people who experience immense pride and joy in their work — dispelling the harmful myth that trans rights and working-class interests are at odds with one another

We are aiming to complete the film by Summer 2026. Our distribution plans include premier domestic and international film festivals, free online availability on a major platform, and a community screening campaign designed to reach LGBTQ+ audiences in blue-collar industries!

⭐ ADDITIONAL DONATION INFO ⭐

Matching Donations

Many companies have matching gift programs and can help you double your donation to a project of your choosing. Sometimes these programs will match a donation up to a year after it was originally made! Check with your employer; if they have a matching gift program, they will provide you with instructions.

Tax-Deductible Donations & Funder Credits

If you're interested in making a tax-deductible donation or learning about funder credits and terms for executive producers, please email producer Mars Verrone at mverrone@proton.me.

⭐ ABOUT THE TEAM ⭐

Hansen Bursic (Director & Producer) is an award-winning filmmaker, journalist, and film festival programmer based between Los Angeles, CA, and Pittsburgh, PA. He was recently named a DOC NYC Documentary New Leader. He was previously a Ford Foundation Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellow, a Sundance Film Festival Press Fellow, and a Temple University 30 Under 30. His latest film, "Trans Heaven, Pennsylvania," was funded through the Creative Hope Initiative. The film has screened around the world, including Frameline and BFI Flare, and won Best Short Documentary at ReelQ: Pittsburgh's LGBTQ+ Film Festival. Beyond filmmaking, he currently serves as the Festival Director of the Backyard Docs Film Festival, the largest documentary film festival in Pennsylvania.

Mars Verrone (Producer) is an award-winning filmmaker from Los Angeles, CA, now based in Brooklyn, NY. As a first-time producer, Mars developed and produced Oscar-shortlisted feature documentary "Union," (dir. Stephen Maing, Brett Story), which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and won a special jury prize for "The Art of Change." As producer, Mars received a Cinema Eye Honors Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Production." In 2022, Mars directed and produced award-winning short documentary "Golden Voice," which continues to be programmed at LGBTQ+ festivals and events across the globe. Mars is a Sundance Documentary Producers Fellow, NBC Original Voices Artist Mentor and Fellow, PGA Create Fellow, BGDM Sustainable Artist Fellow, Dear Producer Mentee, and was selected for DOC NYC'S 2024 "40 Under 40" cohort.

Carolina Caruso (Producer) is a Miami-based filmmaker and producer. As a producer, her feature film credits include "Temple in the Palms" (2024) and "Fallen Fruit" (2024), which have screened at Miami Film Festival, Frameline, and NY Latino Film Festival, winning the Audience Award for Best Feature at Outshine Film Festival. Most recently, she co-produced the short film "September, All Over" (2025), which premiered at Champs-Elysées Film Festival. In the commercial world, she has produced projects internationally for clients including Honda, HP, and Chase Bank.

Mad Bishop (Director of Photography) is a queer and trans Director of Photography working out of Philadelphia and NYC. He co-DoP’d Academy Award-Nominated director Sami Khan’s documentary "Angel Dose," which was awarded a Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmy in 2024. Mad’s work has been broadcast on PBS’s WHYY and screened at CAAMFest, Frameline, BFI Flare, Mountainfilm Festival, TransLations, LesFlicks, Amsterdam Lift-Off Film Festival, Hot Bits Film Festival, and San Francisco Frozen Film Festival.

Sowjanya Kudva (Editor) is a Durham-based filmmaker, specializing in producing and editing across a variety of media. Their work has screened nationally and internationally at festivals, conferences, and major media outlets. In their current role as an assistant professor of Cinema & Television Arts at Elon University, Sowjanya focuses their scholarship on production studies, media literacy, and the convergence of cinema and tech, while continuing to make independent films with, and about, queer and trans people.

Ariel Loh (Composer) is a trans, Asian American producer, composer, and mixing/mastering engineer based in New York and Los Angeles. Their work has been featured on Billboard, Rolling Stone, BBC, NPR, Pitchfork, Vice, MTV, as well as major streaming services Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and Apple TV Plus. In 2025, she became the first Asian American transgender woman to win a Grammy award.

Any questions or ideas for collaboration, partnership, and support? Please email producer Mars Verrone at mverrone@proton.me.

SEE YOU ON THE ROAD! 🚚💨

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