The Gas Station Attendant

With her latest documentary, The Place That Makes Us filmmaker Karla Murthy pays tribute to her father, HN Shantha Murthy; however, her lovingly crafted, personal essay-style feature is also a multi-layered exploration and an affecting, insightful musing. The Gas Station Attendant is an ode, a meditation, an examination and an act of recognition — of the way that the seeming minutiae of our lives can easily be seen as small but always feels anything but; of the role and importance of family histories, including sharing and interrogating them; and of the power and reality of hopes, plans and chasing brighter futures, be it the American dream or otherwise.