Flight 182 - Trailer
Flight 182
Winner of the Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge with CAPE and Janet Yang Productions
Flight 182 is a slice-of-life narrative centered around the heartbreaking true story of the largest act of aviation terrorism in the world before 9/11. The film merges my personal pain with a universal human story about family, the desire to protect loved ones, and the harsh realities of political violence. 2025 will mark the 40th anniversary of this tragedy.
Synopsis: With his mother’s final days slipping away, a devoted husband faces an impossible choice: board the next flight to India to see her one last time or heed warnings from a separatist group openly seeking revenge against the government. Based on actual events.
Executive Producers: Emmy®-winning Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife), President of the Academy Janet Yang, Julia S. Gouw, Cindy Huang, David Thies (producer of The Peanut Butter Falcon) and Corey Jackson.
creating with vision
Using my Punjabi-Sikh lens and culture to explore complex characters and human conditions.
Documentary: HAPPY - 3:30
Thermo Fisher Scientific :30
Documentary: ZONE - 4:43
sociology x cinema
Rippin Sindher is a fearless filmmaker who blends sociology with cinema to ignite conversations on justice and identity. Raised in the farmlands of California before attending UCLA, she carved an unconventional path—starting in PR, managing for the Directors Guild of America, and serving as a Senior Creative Director for global agencies—before launching her career as a writer/director/producer. Her work is bold, unflinching, and deeply personal, blending her perspective as a Punjabi-Sikh woman with a passion for stories that drive social change.
A two-time Bank of America Big Tell Award recipient, Rippin earned Congressional recognition for SEVA, her anti-hate documentary on Sikhs in America, followed by ZONE, which exposed California’s legacy of redlining. On the narrative side, her festival-winning shorts Broken Drawer and The Hideout dissect complex relationships. In 2023, she won the Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge with CAPE and Janet Yang Productions for FLIGHT 182, a gripping true crime drama executive produced by Emmy® winner Archie Panjabi. The film earned Best Short Honorable Mention at iSAFF, was nominated at the Oscar-qualifying Tasveer Film Festival, and led to her selection as a directing fellow and production consultant on S.W.A.T. for Paramount CBS.
Rippin’s momentum in TV directing includes directing intensives on Criminal Minds: Evolution (with Bethany Rooney), Ryan Murphy’s Ratched for Netflix, and being a finalist for the Sony Directing Program and Shondaland x SeriesFest. Her feature adaptation of FLIGHT 182 is a finalist for the Sundance Collab Cultural Impact Residency, further cementing her voice in cinematic storytelling. Previously she adapted The Village Bride of Beverly Hills into a feature script.
Beyond the screen, Rippin has directed sold-out theatre productions, including An Evening Repast (on India’s Partition) at the historic Morgan-Wixson Theatre and Pyar aur Coffee about interracial relationships for the Long Beach Shakespeare Company. She was elected Vice President of the RISE Council (Dan Lin’s accelerator for POC creators) and honored with the UCLA Women Leaders Award for her powerful storytelling and commitment to social justice. She also founded KAUR Creative to mentor teen girls and co-founded Sindherella Co. She is represented by RAIN.
The Hideout - 8:54
Broken Drawer - 14:20
Mentored by some of the very best…
This year has been incredible for mentorship and community! I'm proud to be a finalist for the Sundance Collab Cultural Impact Residency with my feature film Flight 182. Additionally, I was a finalist for the 2024 SONY Directing Program, a feature finalist for Rideback Rise (founded by Netflix Chairman Dan Lin), and honored to be elected Vice President of the RISE Council. As I continue to expand my work in TV directing, I’m building on my experience from shows like S.W.A.T., Criminal Minds, and Ratched through the Ryan Murphy HALF program. Excited for what’s ahead!
I Use My Sociology Background as a Superpower to Craft Stories That Change the World.
“The nuances of our unique selves, when integrated into moving images, is what elevates the human connection beyond work and transforms it into defined purpose. My pursuit of stories rooted in resilience and optimism comes from values born of my heritage as a Punjabi, Sikh woman who grew up in a raisin farm town.”
