Jeff Chiba Stearns
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Jeff Chiba Stearns is an internationally award-winning Canadian independent animation filmmaker who works in traditional and computer-based techniques. Born in Kelowna, BC, of Japanese and European heritage, his film work incorporates various techniques - animation, documentary, and experimental. In 2001, he founded Meditating Bunny Studio. Based in both Vancouver and Kelowna, he has enjoyed creating works aimed at children and adults that combine different philosophical elements together to create humorous, inspiring, and entertaining stories. After graduating from the Emily Carr Institute with a Bachelor of Media Arts majoring in Film Animation, he went on to obtain a Bachelor of Education from UBC.
His previous short animated films, The horror of Kindergarten (2001) and Kip and Kyle (2000) have both screened at film festivals around the world and were bought and aired by the CBC for their show ZeD. Jeff’s latest award-winning classically animated short, “What Are You Anyway?” created on a pre-license fee from the CBC explores his life growing up half-Japanese and half-Caucasian in a small Canadian town, and how he dealt with being typecast as a minority and overcame his struggle for self-identity.
After creating “What Are You Anyway?” the first animated film that explores Hapa issues, he has become an international spokesperson for Hapa advocacy. The film has screened at over 40 international film festivals and won 7 awards including the award for Best Animated Short Subject at the Canadian Awards for Electronic and Animated Arts. Jeff also writes articles for national publications and lectures around the world at conferences, universities, and workshops about mixed-race identity, cultural awareness, the animation process, and Hapa issues. As well, he has appeared in various print, radio, and television sources, including MTV, Global, CBC, Channel M and Ricepaper Magazine. He coined the term Hapanimation after his unique blend of North American and Japanese animation styles. His style is a fusion of cultures, much like his blended cultural background.
Jeff’s next film, One Big Hapa Family, set to be released in 2008, is an animated documentary that explores the lives of children of all ages from interracial marriages and how they perceive their mixed-race identities at a young age. In 2007 he completed a short experimental animation entitled, Yellow Sticky Notes. On top of filmmaking, he is also the classical animation instructor at the Center of Arts and Technology Kelowna and the Vice President of the Okanagan Film Festival.
