petra hanson

Petra Hanson is a writer, producer, and emerging author with an under-used BFA from Cornell. A former pop singer turned activist storyteller and filmmaker, Petra started writing songs (in Japanese) that earned her band, Gaijin A Go Go, a deal with Sony and overnight fame in Japan in the mid-aughts. This chapter inspired a story she told live on stage for The Moth—which became the subject of her first film, Xmas Cake—This American Shelf-Life. Nominated for best short documentary at 2019’s Tribeca Film Festival, Xmas Cake also gained accolades at The Mill Valley Film Festival and on tour with Lunafest, the first traveling film festival featuring films by and about women. Petra now resides between Brooklyn and Costa Rica, and still performs with her reunited band.