Alumni Success Stories

Jeff Chiba Stearns is an independent filmmaker born in Kelowna, BC, of Japanese and European heritage.  After graduating from Emily Carr University with a Degree in Film Animation in 2001, he founded Meditating Bunny Studio Inc. specializing in creating animation, documentaries, and experimental films aimed at children and adults that combine different philosophical and social elements together to create humorous inspiring stories.

Originally from New Delhi, India, Kapur’s 2008 graduation film, Amma, won the Best Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award at Canadian Worldwide Film Festival (Toronto), Honourable Mention at Montreal World Film Festival, a Legacy Award from Women in Film and Television (Vancouver), Most Innovative Film at Reel to Reel Film Festival (Vancouver) and Best Animation at San Francisco Frozen Film Festival. Kapur describes Amma as a “poetic narration of a young girl’s life and her deeply rooted relationship with her grandmother.” She says the film was inspired by her aging grandmother and the hope for her to carry on living. Upon realizing her death was inevitable, the film became a coping mechanism for Kapur, in dealing with her own potential grief.

Since graduating from Emily Carr in 1994, and moving to Los Angeles, CA, Lindsey has worked on a variety of animated primetime and children’s programs. For eight seasons, she was a timer for the television show, The Simpsons and also worked on the feature film, The Simpsons Movie as an assistant director. Her work as a director on the children’s television series Camp Lazlo for the Cartoon Network, garnered three Pulcinella awards and two Emmy nominations.

In 2008, a second nomination for Lazlo, netted her first Emmy win. Lindsey currently works as the Retakes Director on the television show Family Guy and received an Emily Carr “Emily” Alumni Award in 2008.

Kathleen Ritter is an artist and a writer based in Vancouver and a graduate of Emily Carr University Art + Design. As an artist, she has exhibited audio, video and print projects across Canada. Her writing has been published in exhibition catalogues, anthologies and journals. Kathleen is the Associate Curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery.  She has curated several exhibitions, including /How Soon Is Now/ (2009), a selection of recent art from British Columbia at the VAG, and /Expect Delays/ (2003), a series of artist's interventions in the streets of Vancouver.

Julie York is an Assistant Professor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and a sculptor who works with traditional craft materials in non-traditional approaches. Her recent works are based on ideas related to perception. She received her BFA from Emily Carr and an MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY. York’s work has been included in numerous exhibitions and galleries including the Garth Clark Gallery in New York, Perimeter Gallery in Chicago, and most recently in REFLECTIONNOITCELFER at Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA. Her work is included in the permanent collections of The Musuem of Fine Arts, Huston, the Schein Joseph International Museum of Art, the Burchfield Penny Art Center and major private collections.