Xan Aranda doing a yoga pose

34 // independent filmmaker and Kartemquin Films collaborator; cofounder of the Chicago Short Film Brigade, a film series
From: Elgin
Lives in: Ukrainian Village
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Eyewitness “In middle school, I wanted to be a filmmaker and also study alternative medicine. You would think they’re different, but they both involve stories. They’re both ways of looking at a snapshot of someone’s life. In high school, my best friend and I would go to O’Hare and people-watch for hours. There are so many different kinds of filmmakers; I think I’m more of an observer than anything else.”

Born Survivor “I have the Eagle Scout equivalency for girls, earned when I was 16. Some would say I’m apocalypse ready. I can survive in the wilderness—no problem. I wasn’t raised a feminist; I was raised to be anything I wanted, and I know very clearly who I am.”

Browse our photo gallery of the singles below.