KARINA Lomelin RIPPER, FILMMAKER

“I don't want to look back in another ten years and not see that needle move.”

Karina Lomelin Ripper works in an industry that is not known for the advancement of women, especially Latinas. Yet she is tenacious in her work as a director. She uses her creativity to elevate other women and minorities, which has been the driving force for her short documentary series La Tienda.

Karina and I met when La Tienda was still a concept. She had heard about my project Becoming Mexican and we bonded over our shared vision of creating space for untold stories. We had the opportunity to work together on the first documentary of the series and I loved being able to experience how she brings a team together and leads a creative vision.

When Karina Ripper was in high school, she signed up for a filmmaking class, but was told it wasn’t for girls. Ever since then, she has worked to prove just how incredible women are, one project at a time. Thank you Karina for sharing your story!

Carly: Thank you so much for being a part of this project! To start, could you share where you were born and raised?
Karina: I was born in Los Angeles, in West Covina, and I was raised kind of all over. My dad was in the Navy and then became a commercial airline pilot. My family moved around a lot, particularly when I was a kid. We ended up in Dallas, Texas for a good chunk of time. So I generally say I am from Texas, but at this point I've probably spent more time in Portland. So Portland is my home.

Carly: Where are your parents from?  
Karina: My parents are both from Mexico. My father is from Mexico City, my mom is from Magdalena. They met in Los Angeles.

Carly: Did they move to Los Angeles from Mexico?
Karina: Their families did. They were both kids when they got to Los Angeles, their parents brought them over, so they didn't really have a say in it. 

I haven't ever talked to them about whether or not they were excited. I do know that they had a really tough time in school, particularly with the language barrier. That became a struggle for us growing up because I think they were concerned that we weren't going to learn English properly or we’d struggle with English the way they had in school.                     

My first language was actually Spanish, and they changed it to be English. I don't speak Spanish now. That's been kind of a tumultuous thing I’ve got to figure out. I’ve got to get back into it. I’ve got to find my group to go and practice.

Carly: So they made a choice to switch over to speaking English because they wanted you to be more comfortable academically?
Karina: Yeah, for sure. My parents didn't want me to experience the racism they had experienced not speaking English, or the challenges they had faced in school. My mom is a bilingual kindergarten teacher, I think she was so traumatized she actually wants to give back to kids that struggle with speaking both languages.                      

It's challenging because on the one hand you are trying to learn a new language, but you are also trying to get educated at the same time. Doing both can really set you back in your education. They wanted to make sure that I got the best education, and have the most opportunities in life. So they were just like English, English, English.

By the time I got into middle school, it started to come out that kids could learn, like, five languages. And they were like, "Oh kids can learn five languages? Now we are going to do Spanish all the time."                     

At that point, I was like, “What's happening?” It was really hard for me being pulled back into trying to speak Spanish. At that point, my English accent was so strong, and it still is. It felt super uncomfortable and very challenging because I knew I didn't sound like my parents. I knew that I didn't sound like my grandparents or even my cousins. I didn’t want to talk.

Carly: People tend to be more comfortable with certain areas of foreign language learning than others: listening, speaking, reading, writing. What’s your experience with that?
Karina: For me, I am more comfortable with reading and listening. When it comes to speaking, that's the fear. My mom and I are really close and I've talked to her about this. I realized the fear came from my mom being a teacher and her constantly correcting me and trying to get me to use the proper accents and not sound so gringa, she would often say.                    

I think that's the fear: the fear of not doing it right, not saying it right. Being able to not think about that and being able to just make a mess of it and just speak, is where you need to be to advance in the language.

That's always been the hurdle. Finding those safe spaces where I'm not thinking about how white I might sound.

Carly: What other cultural associations or connections to Mexico and its culture did you have growing up?
Karina: I think, as you get older, you want to understand more of where you came from. Also maybe you are just more aware of where you came from as you get older. I think for a long time I was just naively blissful that this was everybody's experience. Everybody was from an immigrant family. 

My husband is Polish, and his family experienced Polish culture in their travels or in their birthday parties. Those were all the places where I experienced my culture. We were constantly visiting family in Los Angeles, which is basically where all my extended family lives. They are all Mexican, and constantly had parties with mariachis, quinceañeras, and big picnics with tons of people and tacos.                     

My grandfather has property in Tijuana, so we would go to Tijuana a lot, or we'd go to Cancun. We traveled to Mexico all throughout my childhood. I felt like that was normal. I thought every kid got to travel around and go visit where they were from. I didn't think of it as anything special, just something that was a part of my family's life. 

Specifically, I had a quinceañera. I was raised Catholic. I could eat burritos everyday. I love Mexican food, I was raised on it, so I will happily eat it constantly. I think that there are a lot of things that are instilled in me, characteristics that I've started to realize are very part of our culture.                     

For example, the sense of community or wanting to bring people together. I do that for my work.

I have the desire to bring everybody together and do something together, to have a movie night, a barbecue, or make a movie. Wanting to be helpful is constantly something I find myself leaning towards. Then realizing that I have to tamper that because you can't do everything.

As I've gotten older, I'm very aware of the bad parts, too. My father is very Mexican machismo. Struggling with that with him has always been challenging for me as a very liberal feminist. That's certainly a characteristic of his upbringing.

Carly: One of the things I've realized from this project is how much I can shape who I am now. Just because Mexican culture wasn't something I grew up with necessarily, that doesn't mean it can't be a big part of my life now. I can get to know the culture and infuse my life with those things that I didn't have when I was younger. We’re constantly becoming, we can shape who we are. I feel this sense of agency to shape my life and bring in more Mexican culture, draw that closer to me, even though it was very much on the outskirts of my life growing up. Do you have any experience of that?
Karina: I think there are definitely things that I’m still learning about my culture and my family's history. In the last few years I learned that two of my very distant relatives were both soldaderas, they were fighters during the Mexican Revolution. I was like, "What, this is crazy. Why am I just finding out about this now?"                     

I also knew nothing about the Mexican Revolution and started wondering, "What was this war? Wait, women fought in it? What were they fighting about?" I became fascinated and did a lot of digging on Wikipedia.                    

There is so much history there to unfold and find out about, but it did feel really great to know that distant relatives were really strong and powerful women in their community. To think, I'm a descendant of that.

Carly: Tell me about the work that you do now. How did you get into filmmaking, where did that love start?
Karina: I went to a high school that had a media tech program and I thought it sounded fun. I wanted to learn how to do video. I was the first person to sign up for the class, but when I got my schedule, I wasn't in the class.                     

I called my counselor and my counselor told me that class wasn’t for girls. I was like, "What? Really?" Then I told my dad and, this is one of those moments where my dad really pulled through, because he called her up and chewed her out.                      

I haven't looked back since I got in that class. There was an opportunity to direct and the teacher was like, "Who wants to direct this piece?" Everybody was looking around like, “Oh I don't know, that's scary.” And I was like, "I want to do it, I'll do it. I'll be the first one." I absolutely loved it. I feel like I'm made for this. I loved the control, I loved having my team. I love the vision. I am the oldest of four, and I've since realized in some ways I have been doing that my whole life, directing my siblings.

We would constantly play together and put on plays or performances, just the four of us, goofing around in our house. That said, I had no experience with TV or film. My family had been really restrictive about how much I could watch. I'd never seen The Godfather or any of those historical films.                      

I really liked the process, but I didn’t have the know-how yet. I got really lucky to get in that program, even though it sounded like they didn't want me there. I pushed through and I went to school for film. There, I was one of the few people who got to be the director of projects for school. I was definitely the only woman, I think there were only five women in a class of 60.

That was at university, North Texas. My parents didn't want me to go out of state, oldest child and all. But it was fine, I made the best of it. While I was going to school, I was working at the CW news station, working for the Dallas Cowboys. I was working for a radio network and getting experience. After that, I decided to move to London because I heard I could get a work visa there.                     

So I went to London, really delusional about how easily I would get work because it kind of had come so easy before. I ended up being a security guard at the Apple Store. It was one of those things where, “Okay, I just got to figure it out and try harder.” I ended up being there when the bus and train bombings happened. That changed a lot of my perspective about life. I decided it was time to get out of London. I told myself I could go to LA or New York, those are the options.

So I went to New York, got tons of experience. I worked at a television network, I worked in advertising, I worked on reality shows. I got to work on shows for National Geographic Wild and that taught me so much about the process of what you have to do to do this work. How it can be an adventure, and how it can be totally surprising and exciting throughout all of it.                     

Then I moved to Portland. The aspect that has always been challenging to me is that there is this balance in film, well any creative field, where you're trying to make a living, but you are also trying to do your art.

there is another aspect that has always plagued me, even from the beginning. It's that they don't want you here. They say, It's not a female industry.                     

That aspect is there too, constantly. Constantly battling for roles and positions that they say aren't meant for women. Unfortunately, that's just the reality of it. I had a boss say to me once, "You've got two options, you can be a producer or you can be an editor. Which one do you want?" And I was like, "I want to be a director." He's like, "That's not an option for you." And I was like, "Okay, well I need to work. I guess I'll be a producer because that's closest." 

I started getting as much training in that field. I think I went towards documentary because documentary is one of those ones where the crews are so small that sometimes the producer becomes the director. You can see them transition into that role, I'm like second unit or something like that. So that was definitely happening more there.                     

Where I am at now, I just want to direct. I'm pushing myself to do that more. It's so much fun when I get to do it. It's the best. It feels so good. It often feels like, “Wow, I am good at this, I can do it. It's working. I'm having a great time, everybody is having a great time. This is a really positive experience.”

Oftentimes, because society and the system has been like, “No, this isn't for you.” You feel like, I must not be good at it. And then you do it and you're like, "That was so fun." 

This year, specifically, I am trying to work on projects in my free time that really connect to my culture, connect to me. I need something to sink my teeth into personally. I found that they tend to be people that have similar culture or stories that are from my childhood or my experiences. That's been really exciting because I feel like right now there is a push for this type of content so it's pairing up nicely with what I want to do. It feels good.

Carly: I'm curious, I know that gender plays such a big role in the industry, have you experienced something similar with race?
Karina: Yeah, it's really bad. I think that's the part that has woken me up in a way. There has been a movement with Time’s Up and Me Too. Time's Up particularly fights for women not being harassed in the film industry.

I thought things were better when I got out of college. I thought we were heading in the right direction. And to see that there has been no change, that didn't feel right. 

The saddest part is that since it's happened, as things have started to change, it's still incredibly hard for Latina women. We are at the bottom. It's like white, black, Asian, Latina. Why? I don't know, I don't understand.

Carly: Do you mean roles within the film industry?
Karina: Female directors, specifically. I certainly know tons of female directors that I love, but there is only like one Latina director that I love.

Carly: Who is she?
Karina: Lucrecia Martel. She's Argentine, her films are incredible. I would highly recommend you checking out some of them. I think her most famous one is The Headless Woman. But I really love The Holy Girl. La Ciénaga is another one that's really amazing.

When you can't see somebody that looks like you in that role, it's really hard. If you don't see those stories being told or being elevated, it can be really challenging. People seem to be aware of it now, and I want to keep people aware of it.

I don't want to look back in another ten years and not see that needle move. 

I can't do that. I can't believe it went by ten years before and that needle didn't move. I feel personally responsible. I feel like I've allowed myself to be put in a role that wasn't letting me do what I wanted to do.

Carly: I love how you've made conscious choices. They are not giving it to you, but you’re putting yourself in a position to get there eventually. Tell me about your docu series La Tienda and how that came about.
Karina: I've gotten to a place where it's time to make the change now or otherwise it's never going to happen. I've done a short film as a director with my partner, a music video with my partner. I just was like, “All right, what's a project that I connect to that I can do on my own.” 

Having a solid background in documentary production, I thought, “Let's think about a short docu series. What could it be about? What would I be interested in exploring? Or whose stories would I be interested in exploring?”                     

At the same time, I'd also been thinking how can I do pieces that I could see somebody eventually financing. This is a business. I want to make money and I want to find a way to turn my craft into making money. 

I learned about the RACC (Regional Arts and Culture Council) grant and it seemed like a way to bridge these two gaps. A creative perspective to focus on the artistic aspects and make the piece more about those versus commercial, which fits into the documentary style. Just see if I can get some funding for it.

For me, it's come from a place of wanting to do something visual, to be able to do something documentary-esque, but also play with it a little bit more. Make it fun and poppy. Hire a pristine kind of look. But then also tell these deeply personal stories that I connect to with my culture.

I was wanting to profile and focus on women, because I feel like I know what it's like to have to hustle and I want to be able to support other women. It's constantly a thing that I'm doing in film and this could be a way to do it here. What better way than to promote their struggle and their stories.

Carly: That's great. Can you talk a little about what the RACC is?
Karina:  I'm fortunate that I live in Portland, Oregon and we have an arts tax that funds the arts. I applied for La Tienda for the Regional Arts and Culture Council project grant. And I got it, I was the top scorer in my group. It feels really amazing to be supported in that way. I feel like people should know that's where the arts tax goes. I've gotten this funding, I need more for sure, but it’s a start. It just feels good to have that kickoff in the beginning.

Carly: Congratulations, that’s great. Is there anything else you wanted to share about your work or the dots you are connecting with your culture through it?
Karina: One of the things I really identified with in Becoming Mexican was how all the stories were so different. Being Mexican-American, you are caught between two cultures and you are stuck in the middle. You don't fit in in Mexico, and you don't fit in here in the U.S. because you are not one or the other in a way. I think what's been really helpful, to hear other people's stories where they feel that way because then you are not alone in that feeling. I think as a kid, I felt so alone. 

I find it really fascinating in my own work where I can find the experiences in my life that are both Mexican and American.

I think that I was a very American child. I definitely clung to that through my teens. When I had my quinceañera, I was like, "What is this? I like that I'm wearing a fancy dress, but why is this happening?" I was more excited about my sweet 16. I think there was a part of me that was pushing against it and maybe not sure that I wanted to be known as Mexican. I think that was partially because, whether I was conscious of it or not, there was definitely racism that I had been experiencing that I was just trying to avoid.                     

There was a really great moment from the Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary where she talks about being a woman as a lawyer and how she was just doing her thing. She wasn't really thinking about that she was a woman, she just thought she could do everything. And then there's an awareness that happens. I think I felt similarly all throughout my childhood and into college, I could tell that there were some struggle points, but I was like, "I'm just doing my thing." Now, I’m pushing hard against that to make change.

I think the more that people are open to their culture but also other cultures, the more accepting we can all be of each other. 

It's not about understanding, because that only happens through experience. But accepting who a person is because of these experiences. Deciding to take others in with love. You don't need to understand them, you just need to accept them. 

Carly: That's a beautiful way to put it. Thank you for sharing and thank you for the work that you are doing.
Karina: Thank you.