Bjorn Stickle is a Canadian and Norwegian-American filmmaker and psychological researcher whose work bridges cinematic storytelling and behavioral science. With a background in 3D character animation and both a BA and MA in Psychology, his films explore mental health through emotionally grounded, research-informed narratives.

His IRB-approved animated short Unease (2024) was used in a university study on anxiety and public perception. The film premiered at Athens ANIMFEST on March 30, 2025, and won "Best Animation Inspired by True Events" at the Pulse of Animation Festival on May 1, 2025. Its accompanying research study found significant improvements in medical professionals’ diagnostic accuracy of situational anxiety, along with substantial reductions in misconceptions about Generalized Anxiety Disorder across generational age groups, gender identities, and racial backgrounds.

His second animated short, Defiance (2025), which explores Oppositional Defiant Disorder, serves as the foundation of his MA thesis. It is scheduled for completion on July 7, 2025, will be submitted for IRB research approval in August, and is set to begin its film festival circuit in October 2025. In May 2025, Bjorn also began pre-production on a third animated research film centered on Anorexia Nervosa, scheduled for release in early 2026. The film is being developed in consultation with medical doctors and developmental psychologists at NYC Health + Hospitals and Pace University.

In addition to animation, Bjorn’s documentary work includes the NASA- and U.S. Senate-recognized 14000 Miles (2021), the zero-budget short Light on Your Feet (2019), and the feature documentary Unarranged (2025), a $200K project entering the festival circuit in July 2025.

His work has screened in venues from Times Square to Oslo’s Central Station, but for Bjorn, the true impact of filmmaking lies in the conversations it starts and the perspectives it shifts. City and Vancouver.