Truck Mama

East Africa’s unforgiving highways test the limits of endurance, freedom, and sacrifice as Evaline, a 32-year-old long-haul truck driver and mother of two, navigates far more than unfamiliar terrains. Behind the wheel of a 20-ton fuel tanker, she meanders through mounting challenges of dangerous routes, unstable regions, mechanical breakdowns, political bureaucracy, and a deeply male-dominated industry, where every stop demands the assertion of her authority. Through observation of daily life on the road, the film explores how Evaline balances motherhood with financial independence and ambition, while enduring the distance from her family. A two-year-old’s milestones, a son’s school life, family updates and fleeting gossip, as well as the anxieties of an unreliable nanny, unfold through phone calls and conversations, reshaping her sense of presence. Across shifting landscapes, Truck Mama follows a life in motion, capturing the sacrifices, emotional cost and complex realities of working mothers who redefine freedom and self-determination on the open road.