Rao is a Gotham Nominated and Indie spirit nominated feature filmmaker, with roots in Missouri, Tennessee, and Illinois. Rao’s short film debut as writer and director, THE TRUCK, World Premiered at Telluride Film Festival, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short at Oscar-qualifying Florida Film Festival, Best Screenplay at Flickers' Rhode Island Film Festival, screened at MoMA, Hamptons International Film Festival, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Chicago Critics... see more