Meet Karla Murthy, Director of "The Gas Station Attendant"

Documentarian Karla Murthy joined TWN Production Workshop in the late 90s after moving to New York City with no training or money for a formal education in filmmaking.
“That was the beginning of my journey,” Karla told Third World Newsreel.
The Workshop allowed her to learn valuable filmmaking experience while also staying true to who she is and what she stands for.
“At the time I remember being very proud that I was learning at an organization called Third World Newsreel,” she said.
Karla was part of a dining cooperative at Oberlin College in Ohio. This co-op served as both a safe space and an organizing avenue for marginalized students, specifically students of color.
She helped create a branch of the co-ops at Oberlin called Third World Co-op for other students of color who didn’t feel welcome in the other co-ops on campus.
“I was really excited to find out about Third World Newsreel and I felt like it was continuing what I created in these spaces,” she said.
She felt a strong connection to Third World Newsreel because she shares similar values and beliefs. There was a familiar feeling that she found in this new place.
“It’s an extension of where I already was in so many ways, my background, my philosophies, my political views,” Karla said.
Something that Karla took away from her time in Workshop is the collaborative community that is cultivated from the art of filmmaking.
She mentions how, in Workshop, everyone was part of everyone’s crew. They would rotate roles after each project. “One of the things I really loved about the model was we were each, each other’s crew. So we would rotate, like, someone was the director and then you would do sound on the project, and then on the next project you would be the camera person and we would rotate that way. I found that to be really valuable to know what it's like to do all the different jobs,” Karla said.
Her advice for aspiring filmmakers is to find their own community and build a network. Having a community of other filmmakers who look like you and seeing yourself represented in the field you’re pursuing can make all the difference.
As someone with little to no training in filmmaking and working in the journalism field at the time, Karla’s experience in Workshop expanded her knowledge of what storytelling is.
“Creative collaboration is the best part of the job. I think recognizing the importance of everyone’s roles in what you’re doing and treating everyone with respect,” Karla said when asked about what she took away from the Workshop.
Karla took what she learned in Workshop and applied it to other aspects of her life. Not just the technical skills within her documentary filmmaking, but even in her non-filmmaking work.
“I did a story for News Hour about funding in sciences and how it's much more competitive as the resource has gone down. I chose to cast every single scientist who was featured as a woman. I didn’t make that a statement, I just did it and I wanted people to notice because it was all about representation,” Karla said.
Karla found an extension of home at TWN Production Workshop. She is still friends with the people she met in Workshop who she has shared many memories with.
Her definition of home is the memories and stories that are created and passed down across generations.
“It’s not necessarily about a place, where you are physically, it’s more about these stories you pass. Not just like the happy fairy-tale stories, the ones where people screw up and make mistakes,” she said.

Karla explores this concept of home in her most recent film, “The Gas Station Attendant,” where she reflects on her late father’s life — weaving the story of his miraculous journey from the streets of India with the reality of life as an immigrant in the U.S.
She emphasizes that as a parent it’s important to give your children a sense of safety and security to feel at home. Passing down stories from your life and your family’s lives to your children helps them feel tethered to something intangible.
'When you lose someone, especially a parent, -and I think this is true no matter what type of relationship you might have with them- it literally feels like a tether is being cut. It makes you question so much about life and what it means,” Karla said.
“The Gas Station Attendant” came from a very deep, organic place of needing to understand her dad and his life. “I wanted to create an extraordinary story about an ordinary person,” she said.
Karla Murthy’s film “The Gas Station Attendant” will be shown at a free TWN Evening Seminar at City College of New York on Wednesday, September 30 at 6 PM. Director Karla Murthy will be present for a post-screening talk.

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