The Gas Station Attendant (Film & Talk)

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Wednesday, September 30, 2026 | 6pm to 8pm

City College of New York
256 Convent Avenue, Shepard Hall, Room 290, Manhattan

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/

Join Third World Newsreel and the Documentary Forum at CCNY for a special screening and Q&A featuring The Gas Station Attendant. This intimate documentary follows H. N. Shantha Murthy’s remarkable journey from escaping extreme poverty in an Indian village to a life-changing encounter that brought him to Texas. Through home videos and recorded phone conversations from his time working as a gas station attendant, the film traces his struggles to build a life in America alongside director Karla Murthy’s personal reflections on being a daughter of immigrants and a mother in New York City. The result is a poignant tribute to the immigrant working class and a moving meditation on the father-daughter bond.

Following a successful festival run—including DOC NYC—a summer theatrical release, and a broadcast on POV, Murthy will share the making of the film and discuss her media career. A former Third World Newsreel workshop graduate, Karla will discuss her creative process and take questions after the screening. Light refreshments will be provided.

Co-Sponsor
Asian American / Asian Research Institute – CUNY

Author Bio

Karla Murthy is a director and Emmy-nominated producer. She began her career working as a producer, shooter and correspondent for several news programs on PBS. Her award-winning work was described in the Columbia Journalism Review as “compelling, informative and compassionate.” Her directorial debut, the feature documentary The Place That Makes Us, screened at numerous film festivals and premiered on the acclaimed series America ReFramed. Most recently, she directed and edited the short film Love, Jamie about a transgender artist incarcerated in Texas which premiered at OUTFEST LA and won the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Documentary Short, and was called “one of the best short documentaries” by Texas Monthly. The film is available on PBS American Masters.

Karla is of Filipino and South Asian descent and grew up near Houston, Texas and graduated from Oberlin College. Her work has been supported by Women Make Movies, the New York State Council of the Arts, Vital Projects Fund, the Schumann Foundation, the Firelight Media Residency at Slough Farm on Martha’s Vineyard, the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, Chimaera, and Yaddo artist residency.