Karla Murthy

Karla is an Emmy-nominated news producer and documentary filmmaker. Her award-winning work was described in the Columbia Journalism Review as “compelling, informative, and compassionate.” She began her career working for the veteran journalist Bill Moyers and has been a producer, shooter, and correspondent for several news programs on PBS. Her directorial debut, the feature documentary The Place That Makes Us screened at numerous film festivals and had its national broadcast premiere on America ReFramed. She directed and edited the independent short documentary Love, Jamie about a transgender artist incarcerated in Texas which is now streaming on PBS American Masters. It premiered at Outfest LA and won Outstanding Documentary Short and was called “one of the best short documentaries” by Texas Monthly. Her latest feature film, The Gas Station Attendant, is a co-production with ITVS, Firelight and CAAM. It premiered at Sheffield DocFest where it won the Special Mention Jury Award. It went on to win Best Documentary Feature at the Nashville Film Festival and the San Diego Asian Film Festival, and will broadcast on public television in 2026. Karla is of Filipino and South Asian descent. She grew up in Texas studying classical piano and graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in Religion and Computer Science.

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ABOUT The Gas Station Attendant

A daughter explores the immigrant experience in America and the human capacity to love, dream, and survive through the story of her South Asian father, who worked as a gas station attendant.