diff --git a/internal/premis/premis.go b/internal/premis/premis.go
index e3861946..755033c1 100644
--- a/internal/premis/premis.go
+++ b/internal/premis/premis.go
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ func ParseFile(filePath string) (*etree.Document, error) {
 
 	err := doc.ReadFromFile(filePath)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse XML: %v", err)
 	}
 
 	doc.Indent(2)