ASSOCIATE PRODUCER, GLOBAL OUTREACH COORDINATOR



Xan is an award-winning independent filmmaker affiliated with acclaimed documentary powerhouse Kartemquin Films and the U.S. Department of Education.

She is currently at work on her next project, Mormons Make Movies, inspired by religious educational films her mother starred in while a student at Brigham Young University during the 1960s.

Her directorial debut, Andrew Bird: Fever Year had its World Premiere at Lincoln Center as part of the prestigious New York Film Festival, received the Omaha Film Festival's Jury Prize for Best Documentary, and the Audience Award from San Francisco's Noise Pop Film Festival. Fever Year is described by The Hollywood Reporter as a "gently illuminating look at a brilliant maverick musician... captured with grace and delicacy." The film, her fourth collaboration with Mr. Bird, is screening in festivals worldwide.

Xan is a popular guest featured speaker for students, having been a guest of Seattle University, the Yukon High School of Fine Arts, Columbia College, Northwestern University, Wake Forest University, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and DePaul University.

As founder and Executive Director of the Chicago Short Film Brigade, Xan has curated and hosted screenings of international short films since 2003. The Sundance Institute recruited her for their 2011 ShortsLab: Chicago.

She often serves on panels and competition juries as varied as the Chicago International Film Festival, the Third Coast International Audio Festival, Hugo Television Awards, and the Illinois Humanities Council, among others.

Born and raised in Illinois, Xan Aranda worked 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.