ASSOCIATE PRODUCER, GLOBAL OUTREACH COORDINATOR
Xan is a freelance director, producer, and curator affiliated with Kartemquin Films (Hoop Dreams) since January of 2007 when her work on Milking the Rhino began.

She is currently producing and directing Mormons Make Movies, a feature documentary (in development with Kartemquin) examining the now-booming Mormon filmmaking community and its origins within the Brigham Young University Motion Picture Studio.

Xan is currently the Outreach Director for Prisoner of Her Past, directed by Gordon Quinn.

She recently produced and directed Andrew Bird: Fever Year, a feature-length HD concert documentary soon to be released by the artist.

As founder and Executive Director of the Chicago Short Film Brigade, Xan has been curating and hosting Midwest screenings of international short films since 2003.

She often serves on competition juries as varied as the Chicago International Film Festival, the Hugo Television Awards, and the Illinois Humanities Council’s Looking For Democracy Film Contest, among others. She is also a popular featured guest speaker for film students of Columbia College, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Northwestern University.

Born and raised in Illinois, Xan Aranda lived in California for ten years until moving to China and eventually, Chicago in 2001. She has worked in the film, music video, and commercial industries since 1994.