Jeff Chiba Stearns
| Jeff Chiba Stearns | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada |
| Occupation | |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Period | 2001-present |
| Notable works |
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| Website | |
| meditatingbunny |
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Jeff Chiba Stearns is a Canadian independent animation and documentary filmmaker who works in traditional and computer-based techniques.
Chiba Stearns was born in Kelowna, British Columbia, of Japanese and European heritage. 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 University of British Columbia.
In 2001, Chiba Stearns founded Meditating Bunny Studio Inc., now based in Vancouver and formally in Kelowna.
His short animated films, The Horror of Kindergarten (2001) and Kip and Kyle (2000) were screened at film festivals and were bought and aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) for their show ZeD. His 2005 autobiographical animated short, What Are You Anyway? was created on a pre-license fee from the CBC and explores issues of growing up half-Japanese and half-Caucasian in a small Canadian town. It has screened at over 40 international film festivals, and won the award for Best Animated Short Subject at the Canadian Awards for the Electronic & Animated Arts.
Chiba Stearns also writes and lectures about Hapa and mixed-race identity, cultural awareness, and the animation process. He coined the term "Hapanimation" to describe his unique blend of North American and Japanese animation styles. In 2011, he co-founded Hapa-Palooza, a Vancouver cultural festival celebrating mixed-roots arts and ideas. For the festival, he curates, Mixed Flicks, a showcase of films made by multiethnic filmmakers and panel with mixed-race actors and media makers.
His 2007 animated short film, Yellow Sticky Notes, won the Prix du Public at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and Best Animated Short Film at the Calgary International Film Festival. It was animated with just a black pen on over 2,300 sticky notes, and is a reflection on the filmmaker's tendency to become overwhelmed with "to do" lists made up of yellow sticky notes. The film has screened in over 80 International Film Festivals and won 10 awards. Yellow Sticky Notes was nominated for a 2012 Emmy® Award for Best Human Interest Feature/Segment when it aired as part of the KCTS program Reel Northwest. After the film's international premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, Yellow Sticky Notes, became one of the first films acquired by YouTube's Screening Room.
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