TAXI DRIVER is a window into the lives of taxi drivers struggling to survive within a city that preyed upon their hope to attain the American Dream. The yellow cab is an eternal symbol of New York; our film explores an ensemble cast of taxi drivers as they wrestle with feeling discarded by the city and foregrounds their ongoing struggle to maintain their humanity. Grappling with bankruptcy, foreclosure, and even suicide, this short verité documentary interrogates the lingering effects of a predatory lending scheme: namely, who benefitted, who was excluded, and who has been forgotten.

Shivani Parikh, our director of the South Asian Legal Defense Fund, is the project’s impact producer. A lifelong New Yorker, she was deeply inspired by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) after visiting their Queens office in 2017. Her commitment grew when she met drivers on hunger strike alongside documentary director Sara Chishti in 2021.

In 2023, Shivani helped represent drivers facing points on their Taxi and Limousine Commission licenses and/or fines in OATH Court, and documented unjust deactivations by Uber and Lyft. Her passion for legal, economic, and immigrant justice drives her work with this diverse group of organized workers.

This project highlights the intersectionality of this labor movement, the unique significance of the struggle to the South Asian American community, and the multi-issue lives led by drivers and their families.