Karina Lomelin Ripper is a Mexican-American writer and director whose films focus on the rebels, misfits, and rule-breakers, characters who push for self preservation and liberation.  

She was selected for a coveted spot in the AFI Directing Workshop for Women+ class of 2025. In the program, she directed her coming-of-age short film, There’s a Devil Inside Me. The film won for Best U.S. Latina Director at LALIFF and went on to screen at over a dozen film festivals across the globe.

Her previous short, a gothic horror film, Chispa, was supported by Fujifilm and won the Audience Award at the Rise Showcase and Best Oregon Filmmaker at the McMinnville Film Fest.  

In 2025, for her work in film, she received a Princess Grace Foundation: Honorarium and The Miller Foundation: Spark Award. Her short films have received numerous awards and premiered on PBS, Vimeo Staff Picks, MovieMaker and Filmmaker Magazine,

In 2026, she participated in the Netflix / Latino Film Institute’s Inclusion Fellowship where she made a proof of concept, a prison escape short film, Silver Blankets.

She is in development of her debut feature Silver Blankets, which was selected for the BendFilm: Basecamp workshop 2025 and the inaugural Sundance Collab: The Bridge from Oregon to Industry 2026 cohort.