Xinyan Yu

Xinyan Yu is an Emmy-winning filmmaker and journalist with 15 years of experience crafting intimate, character-driven films across continents. Xinyan has directed and produced work for PBS, BBC, CNBC and NHK. Her feature debut, Made in Ethiopia, supported by Ford Foundation, Firelight Media and the Danish Film Institute, won a Special Jury Mention at the 2024 Tribeca Festival and screened at more than 50 international festivals. She directed the PBS Frontline film Maui’s Deadly Firestorm, which 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 in November 2025.