Cargo is a 2013 Australian short film directed by Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke, written by Ramke, and starring Andy Rodoreda as a father who must protect his young daughter (Ruth Venn) during a zombie apocalypse. It was made for the Tropfest short film festival, where it was a finalist. It went viral after it was uploaded to YouTube, and it was featured on many web sites.[1] By 2018, it had been viewed over 14 million times.
Plot
After a car crash knocks him unconscious, a man wakes up to find that his wife has died and turned into a zombie. He leaves the car, grabs his young daughter from the back seat, and realizes that his wife bit him while he was unconscious. After an emotional goodbye to his wife, he sets off to find survivors.
Knowing that he does not have much time left before he turns into a zombie, he puts his daughter in a baby back-pack, binds his hands to a pole, and attaches carrion to the end of the pole. After he collapses, he rises again as a zombie, and, drawn by the lure of the carrion on the pole, continues his journey.
After a point, he notices the balloon he inflated for his daughter and is distracted by it. He is then shot by a sniper, and three survivors investigate his corpse to make sure he’s dead. They almost leave before the woman of the group hears the baby’s cries and discovers everything he did to try to save his daughter, who has 'My Name is Rosie' written on her stomach in permanent marker.
In the ending scene, the woman holds and comforts Rosie while in the background, the two men bury her father under a cross, giving him honor for his sacrifice and dedication to Rosie.
Cast
Andy Rodoreda as Father
Ruth Venn as Rosie, the father's baby daughter
Yolanda Ramke as Survivor
Alison Gallagher as Mother
Kallan Richards as Survivor
Effron Heather as Survivor
Scott Wood as Sniper
Release
Cargo was made for the Tropfest short film festival, where it was a finalist. After its release, it went viral and attracted millions of views on YouTube.[2]
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Karl Quinn (3 May 2018). "When is a zombie film not a zombie film? When it's Martin Freeman's Cargo". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 May 2018. Cargo was written by Yolanda Ramke and co-directed by her and Ben Howling (they're mates, but not a couple). It's their first feature, an extended reworking of the seven-minute film they made for Tropfest in 2013, which became a YouTube sensation (it's been watched more than 14 million times).
