Rex Skes Movie Beat chats w director/producer Xan Aranda

Xan Aranda, director/producer, an award-winning indie filmmaker is affiliated with documentary powerhouse Kartemquin Films (Hoop Dreams.) She's a consultant, with a hand in dozens of international productions. Xan’s clients h range from national universities,  the U.S. Dept of Ed., to branding companies, advertising agencies, film festivals and emerging filmmakers. Her director debut, Andrew Bird: Fever Year World Premiered at Lincoln Center as part of the prestigious NY Film Fest. Fever Year received Jury Prize for Best Doc. at the Omaha Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Noise Pop Film Festival in SF. Xan is a Producer of the award winning 2008 Kartemquin Films release Milking the Rhino which received a four-star review from the Chicago Tribune. Xan serves as Outreach Dir.  for Prisoner of Her Past, directed by Gordon Quinn. She handled the broadcast of both films on PBS. Xan Aranda is currently directing her next project, Mormon Movie.  She is a featured speaker for students, guesting at Seattle Uni. , the Yukon HS of Fine Arts, Columbia College, Northwestern Uni., 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 curated and hosted Midwest screenings of int'l  short films from 2003 through 2010. The Sundance Institute recruited her for the 2011 ShortsLab: Chicago. She often serves on panels and competition juries as varied as the Chicago Int'l Film Festival, the Third Coast International Audio Fest, Hugo Television Awards, and the Illinois Humanities Council’s Looking For Democracy Film Contest, among others. She has worked in the film, music video, and commercial industries since 1994. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.