36th Annual Mortenson Distinguished Lecture

Jeff Chiba Stearns is an Emmy® nominated and multi-award-winning animation and documentary filmmaker, author, illustrator, and educator. A graduate of Emily Carr University with a degree in Film Animation, he founded Vancouver-based animation studio and publishing company Meditating Bunny Studio Inc. in 2001.

Jeff’s films including What Are You Anyways? (2005), Yellow Sticky Notes (2007), One Big Hapa Family (2010), and Mixed Match (2016) have been broadcast internationally, screened at hundreds of film festivals, and received dozens of awards. As a yonsei, fourth-generation Japanese Canadian of mixed Japanese and European heritage, his work frequently explores identity, family, culture, and belonging. He coined the term “Hapanimation” to describe his distinctive fusion of anime and manga influences with a North American cartoon aesthetic.

As an educator and speaker, Jeff has presented workshops, lectures, and screenings at hundreds of universities, elementary and secondary schools, and cultural institutions across Canada and around the world.

Jeff is also an acclaimed author and illustrator. His picture books include Mixed Critters (2018), Nori and His Delicious Dreams (2020), and the bestselling graphic novel On Being Yukiko (2021), created with Lillian Michiko Blakey. His graphic novel Tomey was released in 2025, followed by Ojiichan’s Dragon in Fall 2026.

For more than two decades, Emmy-nominated and award-winning animation and documentary director, author, and illustrator Jeff Chiba Stearns has used visual storytelling to explore the intersections of Japanese Canadian history, mixed-race identity, family, and culture. Jeff will reflect on his creative journey—from his early animated and documentary films exploring what it means to be mixed-race and a fourth-generation Japanese Canadian, to his current work addressing these themes through children’s books and graphic novels. 

Drawing from his projects such as One Big Hapa Family, Mixed Match, On Being Yukiko, Tomey: The Unyielding Spirit of Tomekichi Homma, and his latest graphic novel, Ojiichan’s Dragon, Jeff will share how his own experiences and family stories have shaped the subjects, characters, and worlds he creates. As a social justice advocate and educator, Jeff will discuss the importance of reclaiming and preserving Japanese Canadian stories, including the history of the more than 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated during the Second World War, and why this history remains relevant today. 

Through behind-the-scenes stories, artwork, film clips, and personal reflections, Jeff will explore how a creative practice can evolve over 25 years—and how animation, illustration, comics, and film can make history accessible while creating space for conversations about identity, belonging, intergenerational memory, and cultural inheritance.