VAFF: One Big Hapa Family.

For closing night of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival, I went to see Jeff Chiba Stearns’ Ode to a Post-it Note, a short stop-animated film about a Post-it note learning about its creator, followed by his feature debut film titled One Big Hapa Family.

One Big Hapa Family was a documentary which looked into his mixed-race upbringing, and what is means to be a “halfsie” in Canadian culture and society. Having been raised by his European father and Japanese mother in Kelowna, BC, the film tried to explain why over 95 percent of the Japanese marry outside their own ethnic group, the largest ethnic group to do so.

It was very well done, and the Q & A interview with the audience and Jeff Chiba Stearns was captivating. When Stearns went to thank his immediate family and asked them to stand up, I realised that they were all sitting in the row right behind me.

After buying the DVD getting a photo taken, we all moved on to the OPUS hotel for the after-party.

So what’s a Hapa, you might ask? Check out Jeff’s film studio at www.meditatingbunny.com to find out!