Exploring the Heart of 'Flight 182': A Film by Rippin Sindher

In this episode of Coast to Coast Creatives, host Joe Funk interviews filmmaker Rippin Sindher about her new short film 'Flight 180 2,' which delves into the 1985 Air India bombing. Sindher discusses how her upbringing in Selma, California, her Sikh faith and her family connections influenced the deeply personal and communal aspects of the film. Sindher shares heartfelt moments from the set, the significance of community in her work, and powerful audience reactions, emphasizing the importance of remembering and honoring untold histories through cinema.

 Flight 182 tells the story of the 1985 Air India bombing through an intimate, character driven lens, honoring the lives lost while exploring the human cost of duty, risk, and remembrance. Rippin talks about how her upbringing in Selma, California, her faith and her tight-knit community helped shape the heart of this project.

Rippin also shares her plans to expand the short into a feature film, a vision that just received a huge boost. In major news, Ridley Scott has now joined Flight 182 as executive producer, underscoring the importance and cinematic potential of this story. It's a powerful conversation about creativity, legacy, and using film to honor lives and histories that should never be forgotten.

Transcript

Joe: Welcome to Coast to Coast Creatives, a podcast for and about working professional artists within the entertainment industry. I'm your host, Joe Funk, and here we interview actors, directors, photographers, writers, and many, many more. Today I'm honored to be joined by filmmaker Rippin Sindher, whose new short film Flight 182 is both a creative achievement and a deeply personal act of remembrance.

Flight 182 tells the story of the 1985 Air India bombing through an intimate, character driven lens, honoring the lives lost while exploring the human cost of duty, risk, and remembrance. Rippin talks about how her upbringing in Selma, California, her faith and her tight-knit community helped shape the heart of this project.

She also shares her plans to expand the short into a feature film, a vision that just received a huge boost. In major news, Ridley Scott has now joined Flight 182 as executive producer, underscoring the importance and cinematic potential of this story. It's a powerful conversation about creativity, legacy, and using film to honor lives and histories that should never be forgotten.

And now let's jump into my conversation with Rippin.

Well, good afternoon. Good morning to you. Actually Rippin how, how are, how are you doing? You're calling in from Los Angeles. 

Rippin: I am from good old Los Angeles. I'm happy to be here. Nice to see you, Joe. 

Joe: Since we've seen each other in person, it's been a long time. We talked, we talked a couple months ago, I think, but it's been a long time since, since we've seen each other in person.

How, how are you doing? 

Rippin: I'm, I'm great. It's so wild. It's like I see you and I, I feel like those years haven't passed. I know. And yet here we are, 2025. I'm so excited. 

Joe: I'm, I'm so excited to have you here. I'm so excited to talk about your film Flight 182. Um, I've, like I, I told you before we started recording, I've watched it multiple times.

I, I love it. You did an amazing, amazing job with it, and I'm so proud of you for, for, for everything that you've done. So just a preemptive congratulations. On, on everything that's, that's going your way. 

Rippin: A compliment from you Joe is like the highest bar. So I'm like, yes, yes. 

Joe: I want to start by going, uh, going back to the very beginning.

We're not gonna, we're not gonna go, uh, too long in this territory, but I want you to tell me a little bit about your upbringing in Selma, California. Tell me a little bit about your upbringing, and then also tell me a little bit about, um, how did you discover your love for the arts and creativity in your youth?

Rippin: So, yeah, I grew up in Selma, California, and I, I always say this fun fact for those who don't know but have seen Sun made raisins. It's a red box. That's my hometown. So just to give you a picture of really growing up in rural California, farmlands, majority are immigrant laborers. My, uh, parents actually came from India in the eighties.

So growing up it was really about being cared for by my grandmother, um, intergenerational home and really like making the most with what we had. That was always the mindset. Like my parents were always very supportive, but my mom worked in a factory. My dad worked in real estate and so, um, I was really raised by my brother, my sister who are older than me, and then my grandma.

I had a box and. Literally, I just like, it was a, a, a cardboard box and I would write like resources on it and like if my mom came back from the factory with knickknacks at, at some point it was like puff paints or I found like scraps around the house. I would like put them in this box and then I would find myself when my grandma was taking care of me just.

Throwing everything on the carpet with a couple of dolls that I might have had, um, and like piecing them together. And I honestly like looked back and I would create these little stories like so and so Barbie did this. And I remember I got like a Barbie that actually had a sari on. It was like my first time I saw a brown Barbie.

And, um. It just felt like this world of my imagination was growing. So growing up, like I was always in choir. I was um, in theater. I was in musical theater. I was, you know, a student body president of my high school. A lot of firsts for me, um, in my community. So I always kind of stood out. Um. But this idea of like what an career as an artist could look like, it really just wasn't defined because nobody I knew had really done that.

And being South Asian, um, and really balancing, you know, tradition and culture. You know, obviously with my parents, some, some ability of, um, being safe and stable in a country that they were sort of new to. It was always this fine line of what do I do? But, um, story was always with me. You know, essays, poetry.

Peach Blossom. I was writing my own column in the school newspaper in high school called The Clarion, and it was like a dear Abby, but I would write, but I was so raw and so personal and something that really happened to me that changed my life is I unexpectedly lost my own mom at the end of my senior year of high school.

And so I remember looking back, like writing one of the most vulnerable columns I've ever written about. Hitting your low point. And here I was, you know, I was like this student body president and like I had been homecoming queen and done all of these things like every i'd, I'd started a lot of different chapters and um, and that was something always unique to me is I grew up in such a world that was rural and didn't have a lot, but it was so much in the relationships that I had cultivated.

And so writing that column was like a deep healing process for me and. I could have gone one of two ways. I could have been like, look, I got into UCLA and I don't feel ready to go, or I can figure out how to go while I'm still dealing with a lot of this personal, um, setbacks and sort of figure out my own way and that stretch.

You know, it was really one of the most difficult parts of my life is leaving my rural town coming to Los Angeles and choosing this institution versus other ones. Um, and part of that is 'cause I had friends from my own high school who are older than me, that had also gone to UCLA and I sort of look back and like had those things not happen.

I don't know if I could say Shirley, like I would be at UCLA and then I would be taking classes and so. Theology and English because I was processing my pain, to be honest. You know, I would come back from a long day of taking classes and all these other subjects. I was like pre-med at one point, pre-law at one point.

Um, but I found that like the writing was effortless. The sociology classes, I was acing them and I would come home into my dorm room and I would like, the first thing I would do is pull out my journal and really just let myself go talk about things that, you know, whether it was losing my mom, whether it was what my dreams were.

But I will say, I think that. One of the most difficult parts of my own journey was when you don't come from many resources or you have cultural B boundaries. There's a lot of self pressure of what you can be, especially if you don't see it. So I think my, my biggest hurdle in life was like giving myself the permission to say.

You can do this, you can try something. And it's okay if it doesn't work out necessarily the way that we want or hope, um, but it's probably the best decision i I made and I could get into that. But that's a whole other story of when I actually made the jump. 

Joe: I wanna talk about, um, this deep sense of community that you already kind of mentioned community, um, that was fostered, uh, through your family and also through your faith growing up, because this is a, a, a clear theme within, within the film.

Tell me a little bit about, um, just the sense of community that, that your hometown built in you growing up. 

Rippin: You know, the, the Sikh temple was such a big part of my life and one of the biggest practices in the faith is giving to others more than you are receiving. And, and we call it sva. I actually made a documentary about this.

Mm-hmm. But, you know, my culture and my, my faith is, is a really big bedrock of the things I care about because. In the faith is really about communalism and it is really about looking to your left and right and building. And so anything that we create is of service to something bigger. And to me that was something that was really ingrained from my mom.

You know, she was, um, an active participant growing up of community. It didn't matter if it was inside of the temple or within Selma at large, even though she didn't. Speak, you know, English fluently or have all of the, you know, western traditions and norms. She was bold in a way where people gravitated towards her.

And you know, when you speak that language of community, it really transcends boundaries. So she was the figure in my life that I truly love to live by, you know, those ideals. So when I'm really creating the, um, a project, that's one of the first things I think about, which is kind of unconventional in some ways, like.

I love the grassroots and I think it's something as simple as that child in me, which is like. It's like, I'm so excited to make this thing, and now let's go figure out how to make this thing. And it doesn't really have to be that complicated if you look at life that way. And of course, as the projects get bigger and the resources needed are bigger and the finances needed are bigger, but I think at the heart of it, it's like.

I wanna do this thing and I, and I wanna do it with family, and I wanna do it with people I care about. And I'm constantly thinking like, okay, if this something that I make as a project is not only telling a great story, but how can I get people involved because their service to the world is equally as important as making art.

And we can talk about that in terms of how that happened with Flight 182 because there's so many community partners and I honestly, it's like the wildest thing to look at where this film is now having seen where it started with this sense of community. 

Joe: It's built, it's built with your family, it's built with your neighbors back in, back in your hometown.

And it sounds like you've also expanded that, that mindset to your filmmaking career as well. You've been in Los Angeles now for over 15 years. Yes, yes. Yeah. So I, I assume over that time you've, you've, you've started to learn, okay, these are the people that I gravitate towards as artists, as friends, as part of my filmmaking family, and maybe these are some that I don't collaborate with as much.

And that's, and that's totally okay. And what I really love is finding out about how you combine these families still, I mean, obviously you, you work with your brother. But like, you shoot in your hometown and it has like a very hometown feel to it. So I, I love that you're still able to blend these worlds together.

And also it has to be really eye-opening to young artists back home, back in Selma, to see you come back and be like, look at this. Look at look. Look at what we can do. Look what we can create all of us together. It's gotta be really eyeopening for the next generation. 

Rippin: Yeah, exactly. And Joe, like, to your point, that's why I do that, is wherever I can take these projects back, I want, I want there to be a sense of ownership from all of these different people.

And one of the things that I love to do on my set as I, as I grow with every project, is to bring young people on the set. You know, when they see like. This big truck pulling in and these big lights coming out, it's like, oh my God, you're making a movie. You know how many times I actually see that and hear that as like, oh, this is a real movie.

It's a real thing. Um, but like, I just like love demystifying it. Yeah, because I want, I'd never had that so. When we're talking about pursuing a career that not only you can't see yourself in, but it looks so far away because it's like put on this pedestal of something unattainable. Um, so I just, you know, like I even, I, I brought, um, a, a young mentee in, I said, come to Village.

You know, come sit right behind me and look at all this stuff. And I will say like, that also comes because there's been very generous mentors in my life, you know? Incredible people that are at a very high level on very high shows and movies that will pull me up and say, rip, we wanna bring you in. We think you're ready.

And that ability just to like show you what the master plan is. I, I think that's, that's incredible. 

Joe: It's so beautiful when, when people actually look behind them while they're climbing the ladder and are, are helping up the people below them because there are some people that'll do that. And there's some people that are trying to pull up the ladder as fast as they can too.

So it's, it's, it's, I I love to hear that you're doing that and, um. They, they're, they're lucky to have you in, in their life to show 'em video village, show 'em, show 'em some of, some of the fun, of fun of filmmaking. Let's talk a little bit about your brother. Let's talk about your relationship with your brother because you two co-founded your production company, and I want to know what is unique about the collaboration and the creative process when you're working with your sibling and what makes your relationship so special.

Rippin: Yeah. You know, it, it's, it's, it's crazy because sometimes people are like, you work with your brother in such a close capacity and. I honestly think it's one of the biggest gifts that we've given each other. And to start really, you know, he's on the acting and producing side and I'm on the writing, directing, and and producing side most of the time.

And so between our skill sets, it allows us to sort of create this magnetic. Sort of approach to what we wanna do because we're able to see what pieces we have and what we don't. And he's always been my big brother, you know, he's always been a role model in a sense. But at the same time, like when we are shifting dynamics in any given scene, I think at the end of the day we both support each other in making the best project possible.

And so what we, when we first started, like we didn't, we all both had our supporting careers and we were. He had done, um, Issa Rae's web series. That's really what kind of started a lot of this is. He said, I'm doing this web series and it's a cool thing. I think we should make a web series too. We should start taking your writing and like turn it into a web series.

So we made the Man of mystery, any pocket change he had and I had, we would just like pull it together in this little fund and then we would, we would figure it out and we would say, let's just, you know, go make something. Um, and he would always say like. You know, the more we invest in ourselves and we build this up, like there was a point in our trajectory where he said, let's go get this camera and let's go get these lenses and let's go get you to, um, shoot some stuff that you know, you, you haven't shot before.

So I think like in the process of these last, this last decade, it's been allowing us to stretch in so many ways. And then when I'm directing him, there's like such a deep level of respect of like, you're not my brother in that circumstance. I'm not your sister in that circumstance. Like, yes, outside of like the scene work or whatever, but we have a, a, a common goal and we are always trying to bring out the best and be of the best service.

So there's a lot of respect there. We never came by way of having an abundance of finances, an abundance of resources. So to us it really has been like, okay, if he's booking a commercial, it's about reinvestment into the Sindherella pocket. You know, if I'm doing something, how do we, how do we just use our money to create more projects?

And, um, and, and really more assets as a company. 

Joe: When you're saying you have to kind of, uh. Find that break of when you're working together and you're like, okay, I'm not your sister. You're not, I'm not your brother. It's like that, that does come from a, a mutual respect for, I assume the story. Is it, is it difficult to like turn off and be like, you're not really my brother anymore and, and now I'm the director and now our dynamic shifts.

Is it hard or do you guys kind of naturally fit into that? 

Rippin: No, I'm not. I mean, like all siblings, we have our sticky moments where we're like, really? But we, at the end of the day, we, we understand like, um, I can call back like one of my first films, you know, like I was starting. I was starting to fall behind schedule in a way where I was like, I probably won't be able to make this scene.

And like he steps over and he was just like, look. And he was producing that. He's like, I really need you to step up. I really need you to move this forward or else we're really gonna lose this shot. You know? And there's something about your big brother telling you that you're just like, this is so sticky, but you're so right.

You know? Yeah. I remember I was acting in that project too, and I couldn't get this. Silly cup to hit the glass. Exactly. To make it shatter, you know? And then the moment he got in my ear, I was like, oh yeah, you wanna tell me that? And I just like threw it in a bullseye and it just shattered. And everyone was like, wow, this is amazing.

And we're like, great, let's move on. You know? I was like, I'm glad that that those kind of moments happened because I think there is trust, but there is also this reality. We can't sit here and be like, it's all fun and roses when you're on a set trying to make like X amount of pages in a given amount of time.

Yeah. So there is sometimes where like your sibling can come in and be like, you know, Gar grinder, okay, that scene is not working. We really gotta fix this. Like, we really, you know, and so like my direction has to get a little tighter and a little bit more snappy on like, Hey, we really gotta get this, you know, this is what it looks like and this is what we gotta get.

And, and, um, and we respect it. Like, yeah, he's always been my biggest fan. I have always been his biggest fan. And at the same time, like we have a very strong business alignment of like, okay, we don't like wasting people's time. We gotta come in super prepared and, you know, between his skillset and mine.

Because sometimes as, um, when you're so creative, you get so in this particular vision of like, okay, now we're executing this. You know? And I think where my brother and I really compliment each other is. We really humanized the experience. And so one of the things he always said when we were starting out our productions was, you know, this idea of sava and serving.

So it's just a fun anecdote, but after we finish, um, our final day of a production, we cook Indian food and we bring it out to the crew and we and my brother and I serve them. That idea of a homemade meal that's warm and given from us. With love is like we're not just here to make a project in a, in a good film, but like you are part of something that we are generously like grateful for, and we get to make art with you and what, what a privilege.

Joe: I love that tradition, and I hope you keep it up even as, uh, uh, productions of yours are getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I was like, you're gonna, you're gonna start to be feeding a lot of mouths pretty soon if you, if you can sit, if you, uh, continue it at this rate. Um, but let's, let's dive into flight 182.

Can you give us a little bit of backstory about. Flight 182 and the real life event that it was based on because it's a fascinating story and it's also a fascinating story that a lot of information on it is erased. Tell us a little bit about the event that it's based on and how this story came to life for you.

Rippin: Flight 182 is based off of these true events. On June 23rd, 1985, there was a flight that was traveling from Canada en route to Delhi, and it went off the Irish coast and it landed in the Atlantic Ocean and instantly killed everyone that was on board. And so there were 329 lives on this Air India plane.

This was the biggest attack before nine 11. There was a a bomb that was planted inside of a suitcase. That took down that aircraft. We're talking about a summer flight. We're talking about children, families, and yet, like the world doesn't really know about it. And it has to do with like how it was really handled in the aftermath.

Yes, it was the eighties, but it didn't get the immediate attention. There was, um, no ownership of like. You had all of these different governments involved, you know, and so like it happened on international water. On one hand you have this Canadian government, the aircraft is from India, but you also have, um, you know, England, you have, um, Ireland, you have all of these other countries.

And there was this. Second bomb that actually went off in Japan where the, it went off prematurely, so it was targeted towards another Air India flight. Mm-hmm. This, all these boat bombs are known as the Air India bombings of 1985, and there's such a big story in South Asian culture and community, and yet there's a lot of fear about talking about it openly because there was a separatist group and a lot of, of, of shortcomings and a lot of.

Uh, mishandling of evidence and for me, you know, for me, having a personal connection to this flight. Uh, with Uncle Doji, seeing girl while that was on this flight, this topic would surface and then go away and surface. And it was in the pandemic. I was, uh, with his daughter, prob, and we were sitting and we were talking about our own grief.

There was so much fear of like, what is happening in the pandemic? We were literally scared of leaving our homes. Yeah, we were listening to the news. Continuously and thinking like, I don't know, but I have this crazy fear, like I could lose everyone that I love, um, in, in a moment. And I think that still continues.

Whether we look at violence, you know, gun violence, political violence, everywhere in the world. And so. The story really started there for me is how do I make this a very contained human story that we can all relate to. 

Joe: Jumping off of that, I, I wanna talk about what you view as the, the thematic heart of the film.

This takes place in 1985, but these themes are very relevant today, maybe even more relevant than they were then in, it deals with the mother character, who is, is fearful of her husband getting, getting on this, on this flight and. What do you feel are the core themes of, of this project? 

Rippin: The, the deep rooted conflict that each of us could have as humans?

Like, do you fulfill your dutiful responsibility to your, your sick loved one across the sea, or do you recognize the level of danger and try to figure out what is the right thing to do? I, I think at the very heart of it is like. In the face of risk and in the face of danger, what is the right thing to do and do you do it?

Um, I think that that's kind of the, the, the heart of this film is that conflict we face on, on the regular. It doesn't really matter which scenario it is in, but when we are in deep conflict with what is the right thing to do, 

Joe: Hmm, 

Rippin: that's a question I ask myself. 

Joe: I was wondering a bit about the, the daughter, the daughter character, and I love, I love the, the bit of dialogue where the father, uh, is saying that what he wants to pass along to, to his kids is, is to do the right thing no matter what.

And in my head. I was thinking about, like, I wonder what that daughter's perspective would be in the future. 

Rippin: There is this relationship between the character that I've created based on actual, you know, events and anecdotes. But then there's also this separation between my real cousin that I see, um, and like how her life has really evolved and what fears have really stuck out and.

That is a constant decision of like, what is the right thing to do? I mean, the, for many families, you know, there's a real fear of getting on flights, having gone through the trauma of losing someone. Something as simple as that. What is your perspective on needing to take a flight to get somewhere and how that is held into your body when you've actually lost your parent in the process?

So this idea of like what is safe in the world and what isn't is a, is a constant. Question. And I don't know what the answer is to that, because sometimes the things that used to feel very safe growing up feel extremely unsafe in this world. 

Joe: And I, I, I wanna, I wanna now talk a little bit about the writing process, because really deep themes, really great characters within this story.

But you had 10 pages to tell this story, correct? 

Rippin: Yep. 

Joe: How, how as a writer are you able to extract such emotion in such a short amount of time when you're approaching it? Like what, what do you really focus on to bring that emotion across? 

Rippin: I think sometimes when you're given strict guidelines, it actually allows you to work within those parameters and it pushes you, and I think that goes back to my childhood of like having X amount of resources and having to like create something out of them.

So. There was this grant by the Julia Es G Cape Grant for $25,000 and it had a page limit on it, which was 10 pages. So given those parameters of 10 pages, I was like, okay, let's reverse engineer this, but keep the heart of the story. I always knew I wanted it to be about a family and. What is it about a family?

Because it's something so simple and contained and yet can be very dynamic in the every day. And so I started there and then I thought there were two things that just never would escape my, my mind and my heart, and it was this cabbage patch doll and this suitcase. And they kept coming back to me and I'm like, okay, if I can cover the suitcase and I can cover the Cabbage patch doll, but really keep the framework within the family, that's the story I wanna tell.

And so everything was very deliberate because I also. See so much of this expanding, and I wanted people to get away into my brain to see like, okay, this is exactly what I see feeding into the future film. But every single word it was, everything is very thought out because there's no wasted space. So everything from the transitions, the visual transitions, how can we make this so tight because.

Literally in 16 minutes and 48 seconds, you're getting a lot. 

Joe: Yeah, 

Rippin: a lot. 

Joe: When you watch it, it's clear how deliberate all of your choices are and it's clear this was the exact vision that you had. Again, going back to those, those transitions, whether they're visual, whether they're auditory transitions, you have wonderful transitions and also every.

Frame of it is so packed with information that you don't even notice on the first, the first watch, but you go back a second time and you're like, oh. The way that like the, the couple is framed and like these little vignettes that, that, that you're getting into, into them, that, that reveal about their characters.

Do you, do you write. All of that into the script, or does that evolve over time? These visions, these transitions, do you write that in or is it something you find with your collaborators, your cinematographer, your editor, your sound designer, 

Rippin: all of that is thought out, especially for this film, because when you're in 10 pages, I'm thinking, okay.

What are the cuts that are going to get me to effortlessly continue this story? You know, like a cut from the family and then into the suitcase, but keep it as a through line. The sound is its own character. 

Joe: Yeah, it's its completely own character. 

Rippin: Sounds wonderful. And I love working with Sound Brigade.

Brett and Ken are incredible human beings, and we have now done everything from my first film to now, um, in pre-production. I was already giving them this script and saying, I imagine that this beep from this alarm is gonna go off and it's gonna really transition by, kind of need that to hold and really play.

What do you guys. Think, you know? Mm-hmm. And they might come to me and be like, Griffin, you know, like these are some choices early on, but obviously like what you decide. And I love writing in a way where I have to like. I have to know why things are in the script and, and whether people push back on it or bring in a another perspective, that's awesome.

But like, I know what the ingredients are in the kitchen, you know? Yeah. And then what we make together is, is magic. 

Joe: I mean, I love your attention to detail and especially with a period piece that is not a time period that you or I have necessarily lived in. I guess we were at the, like we were born towards the tail end of this.

I was, I was 88 and this was 85. The amount of research that must have gone into this is, uh, a little staggering to me because again, like I'm watching it and it all feels natural. It feels like. We're, we just stepped into a different time. Talk a little bit about the time period and the, and the research.

Rippin: I was looking at everything and that's because also like at this scale, you don't have all the resources to bring on an art department and production design to like do the prep work for all of this stuff. It's just sometimes not possible, you know? I was, um, digging into old archives, looking at everything authentic, and then my fam like, so my family actually also has a book of remembrance with a lot of details in it, and just, I was.

Grabbing little things here and there. And then, um, being able to have my family share so many photographs with me. Everything from like what the wallpapers would look like. 'cause I wanted this to feel as real as possible. And I wanted to do everything I could to get us there. You know, I have folders on folders, on folders.

Um, I felt a deep responsibility to this project in a way that I. Was pushed beyond my limit in a lot, a lot of ways. And that happened in prep. You know, everything from, it's also like such a short amount of time. So if you're gonna set up a separative script, really knowing what you're gonna say about it and really knowing like, okay, this could be a touchy subject in a lot of ways.

I didn't originally have the airplane scenes in the script. Hmm. Sometimes that can be a little tricky when you are used to being so independent and like, okay, can I even get an airport at that scale? Right. You know, it's just some things you think about, but it's a great lesson in learning to also not compromise that if you really say something and believe something with conviction, the right pieces do align in it.

And so what actually happened is I ended up finding, you know. Two airplane sets in Los Angeles, we were able to get the eighties look, but there's things that we did and with my production designer, some of those coverings are like. Bought online, they're blankets that are bought online, but there's so much research done of like, what is the color palette?

Mm-hmm. Okay. How do we take this thing and give it the look without breaking the bank? So some kind of stenciling that's done, some kind of window fixtures that are done. So everything's tasteful and minimalist, but it's keeping in relationship to like. What are undeniable needs? The house had to be so real.

Yeah, because if it was real in a way that everyone could relate to, it doesn't matter what race, religion, any of that, if you could feel this family in the way that everything was embodied, then you would be invested. So much thought was given about the weather of the day. I, I mean, I have a whole list of like what the raindrop was like and what's this, but because like the lighting of what that, um, coming through the window fixtures, what that mood was gonna feel like and how this storm was gonna evolve even into what is called scene 11, where the, um, parents are at the dinner table and there's a thunderstorm right before he's gonna get onto.

Plane adding to this as we were building this world, I actually relocated back to Selma for a while because we flipped a trailer home to play for 1980s. The walls were cream colored to begin with, and the level of. Community support that I have received. I had people come in with me hand in hand. I was there, they were there, we were wallpapering, you know?

Um, and you know, I, I was really keen on the kitchen being a space for this mom. This, this is her world. It's different from other parts of the house. And it was so important to me to tile the floor. I remember one night, it was like my friend Ricardo, and his sister Erica, and happy, one of my producers were like laying in tile.

On the kitchen floor and we're just like, yes, this looks amazing, but like that's a true independent work. And yet I really think a film as Born in the details, there's so, there's so many little details that make this world and this home that the families occupying feel organic and feel true to them, and they feel natural.

Joe: Visually how they look there and then natural also in their movements. I'm wondering what was the rehearsal process like with the actors to get them feel so comfortable and lived in within this space that you created for them? 

Rippin: Part of my job that I take very seriously as a creative and as a director is to care for my performers so that they are able to bring their best work forward.

There's no like, oh, what is it gonna look like before we show up to set? Are we gonna have a rehearsal? Are we not? It? I give you the, the, the playbook. Once I knew I was gonna use this trailer home and really recreate it, I really built out the model for them. Everything from the floor plan, and I took all this video footage and I would give them all of these assets well in advance and say, want you to really orient yourself with the space so you know that this is where the, the hallway is, and this is where the kitchen is, and this is where the living room is, so that you understand that this is your house.

I would allow the actors to bring parts of themselves and make certain decisions in the process of it. Like, you know, for Sandeep, can you please bring some pieces of your own cookware into the kitchen? Mm-hmm. For Garnder, you know, what are some things that you wanna contribute to this set? And I think what's beautiful is that on the every day, you know, Joe, like you probably in your house being like, you're not really aware of it, but there is so much movement.

Mm-hmm. And I think in my personal visual style, like I love movement. So, so, you know, really in the rehearsal process, I wanted to give my actors as much of my time and my energy and, and clarity so that there's no surprises. You show up on set. This is what it is, and now we play and we bring it to life.

Joe: It sounds like you were also in a pretty confined space. The movements with the camera, I imagine you guys had to be pretty wide with your lenses for, for some of these movements, which must have been like a, a, a, a tight space. So rehearsal must have been, um, pretty precise with both the actors as well as the study camp operator and, and the dp, correct.

Rippin: Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was just such a tight space and gosh, you're just getting all the feels outta me because I love, I love this part of filmmaking. It's so awesome to do the prep and come into this place where you get to play. And like James Marin, who is the steady cam operator on this, and working with Ray Wong like.

It's so incredible how people can get into your brain when you're also like sharing the prep with them and they could just help you elevate the work. Just everything was so thought out and his ability to like be super fluid and use it, like the space was so tight. Also that my conversations with James too is like, James, look, how do we work together to make this happen?

I know that, you know, I love, I love the study camm tool, but I wanted to just not. Feel like super steady cam. I want it to feel like you're just flowing and you're going and you're being, and everyone that's watching is immersed in it. And he's just, he's phenomenal. You know? Uh, he, and there's this one scene where like.

We have the mirrors, you know, right next to the table. And I was like, look, I might not have money to paint that out. So like, really gotta turn that and really get it and we gotta get you out of the frame. 'cause you're gonna get all these reflections in the mirror. And he was just like, rip in. I got you.

You know? And I was like, great. Let's do it. 

Joe: Do you have a, a favorite shot from your project? Do you have one image where you're like, if I could frame this and hang it on the wall? This is, this is the shot I love the most. 

Rippin: Ooh, okay. I'm gonna say it. I love that shot where the husband and wife are both in the frame. She's in the kitchen? Mm-hmm. He's in the living room. Yeah, he's in the background. She's in the foreground. It's one of my favorite shots of the film. 

Joe: Yeah. No, me too. I already mentioned that one earlier. I was like that, that that was, that was a I. 

Rippin: But what's so wild, Joe is like, I didn't know I was gonna be able to find a location that could offer me that shot. Yeah. And that's a whole other. The way we found this location is just wild. And it ended up being someone through our family and our community. I, I went to go look at their original house, but they had renovated inside and then their daughter happy, just like happened to be home and listened to my conversation and I was like, I'm really looking for something that could play for eighties and has these like, really like wooded wood, um, cabinets in the kitchen, wood panels.

And she was like, well, I have this trailer home. Like, do you wanna just like. Come check it out. Oh my God. Like she's never seen someone so happy to see this trailer home. And I like turned around exactly from the vantage point of that favorite shot and was like, oh my God. 

Joe: Wow. 

Rippin: Yes. I've had so many moments like that with this particular project that just feel very synergetic.

Joe: Oh, that's so cool. I love, I love all of that. Behind. I love seeing how the sausage is made and knowing all the behind the scenes of, of, of filmmaking. Now, one of the next steps for you, I, I don't know how, how far you are in the writing process, but the idea is to create a feature length version of this story.

Where are you in that process and how do you also see the story evolving and changing on this larger canvas? 

Rippin: So we are multiple drafts in now. Um, of the feature film. It was a finalist for the Sundance collab, um, cultural Residency, and I just pitched it fully to, um, at ride back, uh, as the future. So. So it's been, it's been building so much momentum and I was pretty much writing the feature as soon as I was done with the short.

Um, and what, what's interesting about it, it's, it's a much bigger film. It's actually from the vantage point of the mom, and it's more of like the pursuit of answers. Because this was the longest standing trial in Canadian history. And it lasted for more than 20 years. There was a public apology that was actually issued in 2010 by the Prime Minister, and it was a final acknowledgement to the families that there was a mishandling of evidence.

There was, um, missteps that were taken in the investigations. And so even though only one person was ever convicted and let go, um, this is a very complex story. You know, key witnesses were. Killed in the process. Um, there was an acquittal that actually happened, and yet these families, you know, mine included, were showing up to this bulletproof courtroom and trying to have answers.

I mean, the reason that we don't see this in textbooks. There are no museums about it. This is, um, a, a catastrophe on a social level, you know, for humans to not know. If we don't know history and we don't see them in visual form, then it's a complete disservice. So part of wanting to make this film this short and this feature is really about memory justice, and there are so many stories we think about that really don't get told.

Understanding and recognizing. What had happened. It's, it's so important because that's the only way that we can prevent recurrence. You know? That's the only way that we can bridge gaps that we have in society is if we actually acknowledge people and human beings and have them be protected by institutions and by governments.

And sadly, that's obviously not always the case, but I just, you know, wanna do my due diligence of really getting this story out there because I think it's needs to be seen. 

Joe: And when you're crafting the, the feature length version, you've done so much research and you probably have accounts from so many families and real stories. Are you able to incorporate some of those real stories into the full, full length version? H How, how do you like to, to play with the stories that you've been given? 

Rippin: The history definitely is, is always in top of mind of like, how do I actually. Bring that in. How does this scene allow for this other woman that I've met who has been at the forefront of rallying for change and advocacy?

So it, it's, it's a type of script too, where there's always more research and then when you look at the draft and you think, oh, okay. Now when I go back to more of these dissertations or all of this other research, I can enhance it. So we're really at such a critical part now where it's really being packaged.

There's been interest in where are we gonna set this project up? How does that look? How does the, so there's a lot of questions at the table and I. I'm almost like, wow, this is, this is, this is happening. This is moving forward. What the short film has really proven to me is a, I can take $25,000 and flip it into a period piece that resonates across the country, you know?

Yeah. And, and, and, and, and it's been so gratifying to see that it doesn't really matter what race culture you're in, but people in the audience, I get letters all the time. From someone telling me someone that they knew was on this flight or their direct relative. And so I just know that I'm walking in my purpose and I don't wanna compromise what the value of this film is going to be and what that really takes to make happen.

Um, it's a a lot to be determined, but I know that it's gonna happen. 

Joe: That's beautiful. I, I, I love it. And I wanna know, you're, you're out in the festival circuit now, you're taking us out. It's, it's being seen by audiences all over the country, all over the world. Do you, are, are there any stories of interactions with, with audience members that stick out in, in your mind?

Are there any, like, I imagine you must have some beautiful encounters with people following, following these screenings. 

Rippin: One of my earliest screenings was in Seattle and. There's quite a few moments that stick out from that screening. Um, one of them was a young girl who came up to me and like. Like, wanted a hug and, and started crying.

And it, she was like, I'm so sorry. I said, no, this is, you know, she's like, um, I just feel like you really unlocked something for me. And I feel like it's, it's something with my ancestors, something that seeing a part of like what my parents may have endured in their own ways, like it, I've never seen something like this, you know?

And I just kind of held her and I said, you know. That is so powerful to have that kind of effect in 17 minutes on someone. Yeah. And then, uh, in that same screening, there was an Italian woman who stood up during the q and a and she said, I just happened to be walking by this theater, and I saw that there were films playing and I just happened to take a seat, uh, with my husband.

And she said, look, um, I'm not from your culture. I, I didn't know this story. I just happened to sit here today, but I wanted to share like. Um, I'm so emotional about it, like the scenes of the kitchen. For her, it was the cooking, you know, that felt mm-hmm. Like, it's like her motherhood, you know? And I just thought, wow, like there's something so different that people get from it.

And that to me is just, um, I don't know. It's extremely special and yeah. And, and there's so many stories, but I think the very last story, if I may share with you, is. Within my own family. Um, when Prab and I went to screen this in the, we started off the festival at is a in Canada, and it was the hometown, it was of the origin story.

And, and it was a very emotional first time viewing, but I think at the end of that she was really proud of seeing the film, you know, and, and she and I just shared this really tender moment where she was like. It's really helped me heal some things in myself and to be able to talk to my own son, to tell him in some form.

I never really felt comfortable sharing any of this with my, with my family and, and her brother was always also there was just like so much family and I don't know, I just, you know, Joe, sometimes I kind of look at, look at what, where life is, even with this short and just say like, wow, like I'm just a vessel for it to come out in the world and like, yeah.

Thank you for choosing me universe to be able to do it. Yeah. Um, 'cause it's, it's, it's the timing of why this project versus other projects on my slate have really like, you know, inched forward. 

Joe: You have with this story, you have hit on something that is fundamentally human and emotions that are fundamentally human.

'cause again, it's like I agree with, with the woman, um, the Italian woman that's talking about the cooking. It's like, well, this isn't my exact family, but it is the shared experiences that they have. It's the little conversations that they have. It's the asides that the, the mother and the father have that transcends.

Whatever nation you live in and, and makes us a family and makes us all, all human. And it is a beautiful, beautiful film, a beautiful story. And uh, I just wanna thank you so much for sharing it with the world and then also having this conversation with, with me, uh, about it. 

Rippin: Thank you. Thank you Joe. And thank you just for your, um, you know, your approach to everything that you do.

And to be able to like, look at cinema and art and really dissect it. It, it means so much to me. 

Joe: Oh, it was my, my pleasure. It's always, it's always amazing and I can't wait to see what's next for you, whether it's the, the full length feature or if it's a completely separate project. Who knows, who knows what's coming next, but I, I, I love following your journey.

Uh, where can people go to find out more information and possibly come see it, uh, at one of your screening? 

Rippin: And the best way to follow it is there's an Instagram page dedicated to all of this information and it's at Flight 182 film. Um, so you can follow me there. 

Joe: Thank you so much again, Rippin, for, for chatting with me today.

It's wonderful to see you. I, I miss, uh, uh, hanging out with you at the Director's Guil. We didn't even cover that, but I missed, I missed those, taking those. Uh, definitely longer breaks than we were supposed to have. Uh, I'll just just chat and chat and cinema chat in life, so. Well, 

Rippin: you know, Joe, I, I can't leave this without saying, I mean, thank you.

You've played always played a huge role. I think you are a testament to those break room moments before I had the courage to fully fly into film, and I would, yeah. Geek out and say, Hey Joe, you know all these technical things with this camera and this drone and, and you were so generous with your time and energy and, um, it's a, it's a privilege to know you and it's, it's a gift to see you do all the things.

Joe: You're so sweet. I would love to be going out to LA more often and I will let you know the next time I'm in town so we can hang out in person. 'cause it's been like five or six years. 

Rippin: Too long. Too long. Yeah. Yes. It's, 

Joe: it's crazy. But until then, we're all gonna follow, follow your journey however we can. Um, and just thank you so much for, for sharing your stories and sharing your time.