about

Xinyan is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist with 15 years of experience crafting timely, impactful stories across cultures and continents.

Based in Washington DC, she has directed, produced and shot content, including TV news packages, explainers, short films and broadcast documentaries for outlets including BBC News, PBS NOVA, PBS Frontline, PBS American Masters, CNBC, NHK and Channel News Asia.

Xinyan's documentary feature debut, Made in Ethiopia, supported by IDA, Ford Foundation, Firelight Media, and the Danish Film Institute, won a Special Jury Mention at Tribeca Festival in 2024 and screened at 50 international film festivals. Her PBS Frontline film, Maui’s Deadly Firestorm, won an Emmy Award and a Scripps Howard Journalism Award. Her latest PBS American Masters short Cindy Tran: From Here to Here premiered at DOCNYC 2025.

Xinyan began her career as a BBC News producer in Beijing. She draws on her upbringing in a steel factory community in China to document the evolving geopolitical landscapes of the Global South, and amplify the voices of marginalized communities in the developed world.

ABOUT

SAMPLE REEL

FILMS

MADE IN ETHIOPIA

(91 minutes, 2024)

Co-director / Co-producer

Supported by Ford Foundation, Firelight Media, the Danish Film Institute, IDA, InMaat Foundation and SFFLIM

FILMS

PBS FRONTLINE

MAUI'S DEADLY FIRESTORM

(53 minutes, 2024)

Director / Producer / Writer

Emmy Award

Winner, Outstanding Climate, Environment and Weather Coverage

Scripps Howard Journalism Award

Winner, Excellence in Local Video Storytelling

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PBS AMERICAN MASTERS

cindy tran: from here to here

(16 minutes, 2025)

Director/Producer

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INSIDE CHINA'S TECH BOOM

(54 minutes, 2023)

Co-director / Co-producer

PBS NOVA

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NHK

THE DAY I GAVE UP MY DAUGHTER

(49 minutes, 2023)

DoP, United States

2024 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards — Human Concerns Category SILVER

BBC WORLD

CANNABIS: AMERICA'S GREEN GOLD RUSH

(23 minutes, 2023)

Director, DoP, Editor

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SCMP FILM

FIGHTING FENTANYL

(15 minutes, 2019)

Director, DoP, Editor

Gold Prize for Best Use of Online Video at WAN-IFRA Asian Digital Media Awards

RECOGNITION

Xinyan's PBS Frontline film Maui's Deadly Firestorm won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Climate, Environment and Weather Coverage and the Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Local Video Storytelling.

Xinyan won a Washington DC Arts and Humanities Fellowship (AHFP) grant for "significantly contributing to the District of Columbia as a world-class cultural capital".

Made in Ethiopia, Xinyan's feature documentary debut, screened up more than 50 international film festivals, and has won:

Special Jury Mention for A Documentary Feature at Tribeca Festival
Special Jury Mention for Documentary Competition at Warsaw Film Festival
Best International Feature at the 2024 Planet In Focus Environmental Festival
Documentary Jury Award and Audience Award at 2025 Austin Asian American Film Festival

China's Science Revolution, a 23-min documentary Xinyan produced, won the 2015 BBC Storytelling Fund and the "Highly Commended" entry for excellent online production at the 2016 AIB Awards.

Xinyan's short film Fighting fentanyl won the Gold Prize for Best Use of Online Video at the 2019 WAN-IFRA Asian Digital Media Awards.

A short news feature Xinyan produced, shot and edited for BBC News, Are America's unvaccinated changing their minds?, won one of the White House News Photographers Association's Eyes of History Digital Storytelling awards in 2022.