Kirsten Lepore is an American animator known for her stop-motion short films, including ''Sweet Dreams'' (2008), ''Bottle'' (2011), and ''Move Mountain'' (2013). From 2014 to 2015, she worked on an episode of the American cartoon series ''

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

'' entitled "

Bad Jubies "Bad Jubies" is the twentieth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series ''Adventure Time''. The episode was written, storyboarded, and directed by Kirsten Lepore, and filmed entirely via stop motion. It origina ...

", serving as writer, storyboard artist, and director. The episode aired on January 14, 2016 to critical acclaim.

Education

Lepore was raised in

South Brunswick, New Jersey South Brunswick is a Township (New Jersey), township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is centrally located within the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region and is an outer-ring subur ...

. In an interview with ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'', Lepore explained that, as a child, she was fascinated by the animation techniques used by both

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

and the

Jim Henson Company The Jim Henson Company, Inc., formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc. (commonly referred to as Henson), is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is kn ...

. Lepore attended South Brunswick High School, where she began to earnestly explore art, and as a young adult, she earned a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, it is regarded as one of ...

, where she studied "experimental animation". Her undergraduate thesis was the short

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

film entitled ''Sweet Dreams'' (2008). Following college, she applied to studios and

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

d on the side, but she "never heard back from the studios, and the freelance work kept coming." She returned to her parents' house and began working on ads and small production projects. During this phase in her life, she felt that she did not have enough technical expertise. As a result, she attended

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the ...

, graduating in 2012 with a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in experimental animation. Her graduate thesis, a short film entitled ''Move Mountain'' (2013), caught the attention of ''Adventure Time''

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

Adam Muto Adam Muto (born July 20) is an American writer, storyboard artist, animator, and producer known for his work as the executive producer and showrunner of the animated television series ''Adventure Time''. Career Muto was a classmate of ''Adventu ...

, and Lepore guest-animated the episode "

Accolades

Lepore has won various awards, including a Student Annie Award, a

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

special jury award for animation, and an Annecy + award for best animation.

Personal life

Lepore has been married to fellow filmmaker and animator Daniel Kwan since 2016, and together they have one son.

Selected filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lepore, Kirsten American animated film directors Women animated film directors American women film directors American women animators People from South Brunswick, New Jersey South Brunswick High School (New Jersey) alumni American stop motion animators California Institute of the Arts alumni Living people Maryland Institute College of Art alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women