Karla Murthy is a director and Emmy-nominated producer whose work has been described by the Columbia Journalism Review as “compelling, informative and compassionate.” She began her career with veteran journalist Bill Moyers and has since worked as a producer, shooter, and correspondent for several PBS news programs.

Her directorial debut, The Place That Makes Us, premiered on the PBS series America ReFramed and screened at festivals including DOC NYC, Big Sky, and Cleveland International. The film earned multiple awards, including Best of the Festival at Arlington, Best Feature at Better Cities, and Emerging Documentary Filmmaker at Woods Hole. It also screened at the United Nations World Cities Day Event.

Karla also directed and edited the short documentary Love, Jamie, about a transgender artist incarcerated in Texas. The film premiered at OUTFEST LA, won the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Documentary Short, and was featured in People, THEM, Hyperallergic, and Texas Monthly, which named it “one of the best short documentaries.” It is currently streaming on PBS American Masters.

Her latest feature, The Gas Station Attendant—inspired by her father—is a co-production with ITVS, Firelight Media, and the Center for Asian American Media. It premiered at Sheffield DocFest 2025 in the International Competition and won the Special Mention Jury Award. The film is now screening at festivals nationwide and will broadcast on PBS..

Karla is of Filipino and South Asian descent. She grew up in Texas, studied classical piano at the High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, and graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in Religion and Computer Science. She is based in New York City, is a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia and Film Fatales, and an alumni of the Third World Newsreel Workshop. Her work has been supported by ITVS Open Call, the Firelight Media William Greaves Production Fund, the Center for Asian American Media, Women Make Movies, the New York State Council of the Arts, the Vital Projects Fund, the Firelight Media/Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival Filmmaker Residency, the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, The Chimaera Project, and the Yaddo artist residency.