Xinyan is an award-winning video journalist and filmmaker based in Washington DC.

 

Born and raised in Wuhan, China, Xinyan started her journalism career in 2012 working as a producer covering the Asia Pacific region for BBC News based in Beijing. In 2018, she launched the North America video team for Hong Kong’s flagship newspaper South China Morning Post in New York, and later joined the BBC's Washington DC bureau as a Senior Video Journalist in 2020.

 

Now working as an independent filmmaker, Xinyan has directed and produced for international broadcasters and programs including the BBC, NHK, PBS NOVA, PBS Frontline, Channel New Asia, etc. She is a New America National Fellow, a Firelight Media Doc Lab fellow, a Brown Girls Doc Mafia Sustainable Artist fellow and an alumnus of the Yaddo Residency.

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Made in Ethiopia, Xinyan's feature documentary debut supported by IDA, Ford Foundation, Firelight Media and the Danish Film Institute, premiered at Tribeca Festival, Sheffield DocFest, DC/DOX and Encounters South Africa International Film Festival in 2024. 

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Xinyan's storytelling is deeply rooted in her upbringing within a community of steel factory workers, where she witnessed firsthand the sweeping socioeconomic changes in China. Her work bridges two distinct worlds: documenting the evolving geopolitical landscapes of the Global South, her place of origin, while elevating the voices of marginalized communities in the developed world, where she now lives and works.