Brown has a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and a MFA from University of California San Diego. Her short films, Presence of Water and The Settler and Death of the Moth have shown at numerous film festivals and museums including the L.A. Hammer Museum of Art, New York Shorts Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Women in the Director’s Chair and many others. In 2009, Rian co-founded Ice Lens Pictures and is currently in production on a multi-channel video shot in Antarctica called, BLUE DESERT: Towards Antarctica. Rian is married and is the mother of two young boys. She divides her time between Turin, Italy and Oberlin, OH.