About the Film

Mixed Match is an important human story told from the perspective of mixed race blood cancer patients who are forced to reflect on their multiracial identities and complex genetics as they struggle with a seemingly impossible search to find bone marrow donors, all while exploring what role race plays in medicine. With the multiracial community becoming one of the fastest growing demographics in North America, being mixed race is no longer just about an identity, it can be a matter of life and death.

Jeff Chiba Stearns – Director, Executive Producer, Editor, Writer:

Jeff Chiba Stearns is an Emmy® nominated and Webby award winning animation and documentary filmmaker. After graduating from the Emily Carr University with a degree in Film Animation, he founded Vancouver based boutique animation studio Meditating Bunny Studio Inc. in 2001. From animated viral video ads and broadcast commercials for companies like Sharpie, 3M and Post-it Note, to short and feature films like “What Are You Anyways?” (2005), Yellow Sticky Notes (2007), One Big Hapa Family (2010), Ode to a Post-it Note (2010), Yellow Sticky Notes | Canadian Anijam (2013) and Mixed Match (2016), Jeff’s work has broadcast around the world, screened in hundreds of international film festivals and garnered 33 awards. In 2011, he was awarded the Cultural Pioneer Award by Harvard University for his continued exploration of multiethnic identity in his work.

Ruth Vincent – Producer

Ruth Vincent spent seven seasons as a producer with the hit Cartoon Network animated series, Ed, Edd, n Eddy. More recently she has been line producer on Action Dad and Yoohoo and Friends broadcast by Cartoon Network Latin America, Canal+, and POP. Her current engagements include co-producer for the Nickelodeon series Wild Grinders. In the documentary world, Ruth executive produced Ann Marie Fleming’s NFB feature animated documentary, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam and produced Jeff Chiba Stearns’ feature documentary One Big Hapa Family. Ruth also worked with Ann Marie Fleming and Sandra Oh on their feature length animated film, Window Horses.

Genevieve Vincent – Composer

Genevieve Vincent is a Leo Nominated Canadian film composer, commercial voice over actress, and session socalist. She has written the music for several short films by Jeff Chiba Stearns including Yellow Sticky Notes, which was named one of New York Magazine’s Top Five short films at the Tribeca Film Festival and has nearly 2 million views on YouTube, Yellow Sticky Notes | Canadian Anijam, a Vimeo Staff Pick, and Ode To A Post-It Note which won a WEBBY for Best Branded Content in 2011. In 2010, Genevieve completed the score to her first feature film One Big Hapa Family by filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns.

Athena Asklipiadis –Founder of Mixed Marrow

Athena Mari Asklipiadis, Japanese, Greek, Armenian, Italian, and Egyptian, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcasting from Pepperdine University. While working in LA market radio, Athena began her work in the multiethnic community working with web community sites Eurasian Nation and We Are Hapa. After recognizing a lack of multiethnic and minority marrow donors, she started Mixed Marrow in 2009 as an outreach through A3M (Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches) and Be The Match, the US national registry. Mixed Marrow is dedicated to finding bone marrow and blood cell donors to patients of multiethnic descent. Their outreach concentrates on this minority due to the desperate need for registered donors as well as the lack of public knowledge regarding this topic. Through Mixed Marrow, Athena is dedicated to educating the multiethnic community through an online presence and hosting drives to register donors. www.mixedmarrow.org