NEWS & REVIEWS

WOMEN AND HOLLYWOOD “An Interview with Director Karla Murthy”
“I would encourage women to be who they are, true to themselves, true to their vision, trust their instincts as women, and to know that there are many paths to make the film that you want to make.”

TALKHOUSE MAGAZINE “Finding Home”
First-time documentarian Karla Murthy ponders what home means to her.
“In my family, when the going gets tough, you move on to survive, to find something better. If we had lived in Youngstown, we would have been one of the thousands of families that left. And so as I was making this film about fighting to save one’s home, I kept bumping into the question: What does home mean to me?”

THE NEW YORK TIMES “‘The Place That Makes Us’ Review: Rebuilding, Brick by Brick”
“Cities devastated by industrial closures should never be written off for dead. “The Place That Makes Us” looks at a handful of people trying to revitalize Youngstown, Ohio, where the shuttering of steel mills led to an exodus of residents, a rash of vacant homes and an ebb of civic engagement.”

MOVIEMAKER MAGAZINE “How The Place That Makes Us Avoided Ruin Porn and Embraced Change”
“…when Karla Murthy set out to direct her new PBS documentary The Place That Makes Us about Youngstown, Ohio — a place once booming with industrialization that has now fallen into significant decay — she wanted to focus on the people who are rebuilding it, not exploit its devastation.”

MARKETPLACE MORNING REPORT “The radical act of staying in Youngstown”
Karla Murthy spoke with Marketplace Morning Report host David Brancaccio
“I’m the daughter of immigrants. My father’s from India, he was a homeless street kid, and my mother came from the Philippines to work as a nurse. And I don’t have that same connection to home…”

CLEVELAND.COM “Documentary on fight to save Youngstown airs”
“The film shows how the community developers are rebuilding the city as a physical place, and, even more important, how they weave a web of relationships among residents eager to fight for the future of a place that has long seemed out of hope and out of luck.”

FAST BREAK - Fast Company Podcast
Director Karla Murthy and Executive Producer Jad Abumrad are interviewed about making the film together and their long time creative collaboration.

DOCUMENTARY MAGAZINE “DOC NYC Goes National”
“‘I’ve gotten lots of feedback from people in Ohio,’ ‘And that’s really exciting because none of those people would have been able to come to New York to the festival.’”

ALL OF IT - WNYC RADIO “DOC NYC: The Place That Makes Us”
The documentary's director, Karla Murthy, joins us to discuss the film, part of the line-up of the documentary film festival, DOCNYC, running November 11-19

THE BUSINESS JOURNAL “Documentary Shows a Youngstown That Wants to Improve”
“Murthy takes a measured and respectful pace, allowing the camera to linger on scenes and people, so viewers can gain understanding and draw their own conclusions.”

WBUR “Four Documentaries to Watch at the Woods Hole Film Festival”
“with haunting footage… the film is a powerful and enlightening look at local activism and how change can happen — one house at a time.”

THE ENTERPRISE “In Defense of the Documentary”
“‘Yeah, certain documentaries are boring,’ Murthy said. ‘Then again, so are certain Marvel movies. These days, documentary makers are doing some incredibly exciting boundary-pushing work, stuff that’ll take your breath away. If you like risk, watch more docs.’”

THE BOSTON GLOBE “In Focus: Woods Hole Film Festival Goes Virtual”
“Karla Murthy’s [The Place That Makes Us] looks at young people trying to bring back that Ohio industrial city.”

THE ENTERPRISE “Documentary Filmmakers Strive to Inform and Inspire”
“Ms. Murthy said she hopes those who see the film will walk away thinking about ‘the beauty and poetry that exists in the small acts of struggle that make a place a home.’”