EXCLUSIVE: The pursuit of the American Dream took Shantha Murthy all the way from a village in India to Houston, Texas, a journey of more than 8,00
EXCLUSIVE: The pursuit of the American Dream took Shantha Murthy all the way from a village in India to Houston, Texas, a journey of more than 8,000 miles. He came to the U.S. through the good graces of a Texas couple who sponsored his visa application, but his dream of success, alas, wouldn’t be realized.
Years after Murthy made that life-changing decision to head to Texas, his daughter Karla Murthy explores his story and their relationship in the documentary The Gas Station Attendant. It makes its world premiere in International Competition at Sheffield DocFest in the U.K. on Thursday, June 19. We have your first look at the film in the trailer above.
“Karla Murthy’s film weaves together home videos and phone conversations recorded during her father’s stint as a gas station attendant, while also reflecting on her own identity as a first-generation American,” notes a synopsis. “What emerges is an intimate love letter – a meditation on a complicated father-daughter relationship and a poignant tribute to the immigrant working class.”
Greene Fort Productions LLC
The Gas Station Attendant is a co-production of Greene Fort Productions LLC, ITVS, Firelight Media and the Center for Asian American Media. In addition to the world premiere on June 19, the film will screen on Saturday, June 21. Murthy is expected to be on hand for Q&As following both screenings.
Murthy is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker who made her directorial debut with 2020’s The Place That Makes Us, which screened at numerous film festivals and premiered on the public television series America ReFramed. Her 2023 brief film, Love, Jamie, about a transgender artist incarcerated in Texas, is now streaming on PBS American Masters.
Director Karla Murthy
Greene Fort Productions LLC
Murthy grew up near Houston and graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio. She edited The Gas Station Attendant and shot the film along with fellow cinematographers Andrew Fredericks, Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana, and Andy Sarjahani. Murthy and Rajal Pitroda produced the film. Bobak Lotfipour composed the score.
The documentary boasts an impressive cadre of executive producers including Carrie Lozano, Geeta Gandbhir, Rekha Malhotra, Stanley Nelson, Marcia Smith, Stephen Gong, and Donald Young.
Watch the trailer for The Gas Station Attendant above.
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