<h3>Where</h3>Online<h3>When</h3>March 24-26, 2022

Toronto Animation Film Festival

<h3>Where</h3>Online<h3>When</h3>March 24-27, 2021

<h3>Where</h3>Hot Docs Cinema | Toronto, Canada | 506 Bloor Street West<h3>When</h3>Monday April 25th

<h3>Where</h3>Online<h3>When</h3>November 11-13, 2021

Toronto Animation Industry Conference

<h3>Where</h3>Online<h3>When</h3>November 18-22, 2020﻿

<h3>Where</h3>Corus Quay, Toronto, Canada, 25 Dockside Dr.<h3>When</h3>Saturday to Sunday, November 2-3, 2019

Toronto Animation / VFX Job Fair

TAAFI News

Join the team from Spin Master as they tell us the story of how a group of rescue dogs became an international phenomenon.

Paw Patrol: How a Canadian PAWperty Took Over The World

Bianca de Guzman is a production manager at Industrial Brothers. She started her career in animation while at Seneca College studying classical and CG animation, and project management at Ryerson. She has worked on the production side of the industry for various studios and projects such as Lego Marvel Superheroes, and How to Train Your Dragon: Race to the Edge. With her background in animation and management, Bianca specializes in creating studio production systems and workflows for season 1 shows such as Paw Patrol, and Top Wing. Bianca is also a member of the board of directors at the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (TAAFI), where she serves as a treasurer and provides support to the sponsorship team.&nbsp;She believes in the positive influence that the animation medium provides its audience, and she will constantly rewatch animated films and shows that brought her into this industry.On the side, Bianca manages her life similarly to her work. With systematic planning and constant training, she enjoys getting up early to take care of her mind by reading non-fiction books and listening to podcasts, and her body through fitness and nutrition.

Bianca de Guzman

Emmy nominee and two time Canadian Screen Award winner Jonah Stroh has over 15 years experience working in the animation industry. As senior director, creative affairs at Spin Master, he oversees the creative on series such as Paw Patrol, Bakugan, Abby Hatcher and Rusty Rivets amongst others. Prior to joining Spin Master, he was the creative producer and a writer on PJ Masks at eOne Family.&nbsp;Before working in animation, he created and produced reality series for various broadcasters including CBC, CTV and Global Television.

Jonah Stroh

As VP, development and creative director, Laura is responsible for the execution of Spin Master Entertainment’s creative strategy, shepherding original IP and acquisitions for long form and theatrical content.&nbsp;She is the executive producer on Paw Patrol, Rusty Rivets, Abby Hatcher and Super Dinosaur. Prior to joining Spin Master, Laura served as VP of creative affairs at eOne Family, where she was executive producer and oversaw creative content initiatives for global hit properties such as Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom and PJ Masks. Before then, she was a producer for Chorion LTD (now Silvergate Media) where she produced content for the Noddy franchise and developed properties such as Olivia and Mr Men and Little Miss.&nbsp;

Laura Clunie

Learn from one half of two of the most esteemed teams in co-directing. John Musker shares his secrets from his collaborations at Disney with Ron Clements, and Mark Thornton of Neptoon Studios shares his tricks from partner Todd Kauffman. These dynamic duos have co-directed such films and television series as Moana, Grojband, The Little Mermaid, Corner Gas Animated, The Princess and the Frog, Looped, Aladdin, Total Drama Island, Hercules, and Treasure Planet.Learn some tips, hear some stories, and share some laughs.

Co-Directing (Learning How to Cooperate and Play Nice)

Barnabas Wornoff is a senior animator, animation professor and one of the co-founders TAAFI where he helps with speaker programming and other fun shtuffs.&nbsp;Wornoff is a full-time professor at Seneca College, where he coordinates the 3rd year 2D stream and mentors his students while they make incredible cartoons.Wornoff also animates for top tier animation studios in Toronto, and has worked on Corner Gas Animated, Nature Cat, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Total Drama Island, Jimmy Two Shoes, Peg and Corn, and did storyboard cleanup on Danny Phantom. Currently he's a freelance animator for Nelvana on Sesame Street's second season of Esme and Roy.Barnabas has his Masters in Creative Media and Education from Bournemouth University in England.

Barnabas Wornoff

John Musker is a 40 year veteran of the Walt Disney Animation Studio where he was an animator, storyboard artist, writer, director, and producer.&nbsp;John grew up in Chicago, Illinois as part of a large Irish Catholic family. He followed up his English Literature studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, with two years at CalArts as part of the new Character Animation Program in the mid-Seventies, where he learned not only from Disney and Chouinard veterans like Elmer Plummer, Bill Moore, and Ken O’Connor, but also his fellow classmates there, many who have gone on to direct distinguished films: folks like Brad Bird, Henry Selick, John Lasseter, Tim Burton, and Chris Buck. At Disney he was mentored by Eric Larson, the veteran animator and one of Disney’s fabled “Nine Old Men,” who brought Figaro the cat to life in Pinocchio, among many other characters in his distinguished career.&nbsp;John became an animator on The Fox and the Hound (1981), and later joined Ron Clements to direct The Great Mouse Detective (1986) alongside Disney veterans Burny Mattinson and Dave Michener. Ron and John paired up to write and direct The Little Mermaid (1989) which John co- produced with Howard Ashman. Ron and John also wrote and directed a number of subsequent animated features including Aladdin (1992) Hercules (1997) Treasure Planet ( 2002) and The Princess and the Frog ( 2009.) John’s most recent project was Moana (2016) which he once again directed with Ron Clements, along with co-directors Don Hall and Chris Williams.&nbsp;John retired from Disney Feature Animation in the spring of 2018, and is currently animating by hand his own short film, as well as chasing around his two and a half year old granddaughter Lucy and her baby sis, Gwen.&nbsp;John resides in La Cañada, California, with his wife Gale, a former researcher at Disney, not far from his three grown children Patrick, Jackson, and Julia.&nbsp;

John Musker is a 40 year veteran of the Walt Disney Animation Studio where co-directed all your favorite films. Including The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Hercules (1997), Treasure Planet ( 2002), The Princess and the Frog ( 2009) and most recently Moana (2016.)

John Musker

2019 marks Mark’s 25th year in the animation industry. After graduating from Sheridan College in ‘94 Mark began working as an inbetweener and key-cleanup artist at a number of Toronto boutique studios producing commercials and big studio features. Feature credits include SPACE JAM, ANASTASIA, TITAN AE, QUEST FOR CAMELOT, and OSMOSIS JONES.When feature gigs were unavailable Mark worked as a designer at Nelvana, where he started working daily with his soon to be partner-in-crime, Todd Kauffman. The two of them recognized a similar sense of humour and passion for story in each other, and began collaborating on “just for fun” projects like writing and illustrating dark cautionary tales. The ultimate goal was to create and produce their own IP.&nbsp;In 2005 they finally got that chance. They created and direct a series of 5 animated shorts for Nelvana’s Funpack program: The 9th LIFE OF SHERMAN PHELPS. With the taste of directing still fresh in their mouths, and their old design jobs being their only option back at Nelvana, the duo decided to strike out on their own. They officially partnered up as NEPTOON STUDIOS to create and develop their own IP and went looking for directing gigs to pay the bills.They started off by directing the first 2 seasons of Fresh Tv’s TOTAL DRAMA ISLAND and TOTAL DRAMA ACTION. From there they went to create and direct their own series GROJBAND, followed by another original, LOOPED. While continuing to pitch and develop their own properties, co-directing is what they became known for and were soon tapped to helm the first season of CORNER GAS ANIMATED. From there they landed at GURU where they co-directed the 4th season of TRUE AND THE RAINBOW KINGDOM, and most recently PIKWIK PACK.

Mark Thornton

There is another venue of creativity for animation artists besides the series and feature film world - short films! The art of creating your own short and showing it around the world is often underappreciated. These talented creators and directors will discuss their journey of taking an idea, creating a short, and getting it in front of audiences internationally.

Navigating The World Of Shorts

GRITTY, FRESH, and FUN. Joel's work has been screened at some of the top festivals in the world and that has opened the door to take his ideas further with clients. Currently he is developing shows with Corus/Teletoon, Sonar/Wildseed, and Boat Rocker media. He also has a short with Nickelodeon, and a bunch of other ideas he is trying to get off the ground. He hopes to own a dog someday and eventually play every video game in the world.

Joel MacKenzie

M.R. Horhager is a Filipino-Canadian creator, director, writer and filmmaker from Toronto, Ontario with a decade of experience in the animation industry. His work includes directing the award-winning series “Dot.” produced by the Jim Henson Company, working with Sesame Workshop as a director on “Prankster Planet”, and his current role as an episodic director and creative producer on Nickelodeon’s “Blues Clues &amp; You” reboot.His past director credits also include the pre-school series “Chirp”, and the Christmas special "The Curse of Clara: A Holiday Tale", which won a 2017 Canadian Screen Award for "Best Animated Program or Series".In addition to his work in broadcast TV, M.R. Horhager is also a prolific creator of original animated content, with multiple projects in various stages of development. He has also written, directed and produced several short films, with many that have appeared in international festivals, including "Extreme Nuts" (2010), "Ball'oons" (2011), "I Hate You Red Light" (2012), "Ringo" (2012), and "Kafka’s Little Fable" (2016). In 2017, he was invited to pitch one of his original projects, “The Distinguished Dinosaurs”, at the acclaimed Annecy International Animated Film Festival.M.R. Horhager’s varied experience has given him the opportunity to work on shows and develop content that span from the pre-school demographic up to adult. In addition to his many projects, his newest venture in 2019 is leveraging his strong storytelling ability as a TV writer.

Mathias Richard Horhager

Samuel M Bradley is an artist and writer based in Toronto. He was born in the early eighties and raised in Brantford Ontario, Canada.&nbsp;Largely through happenstance he attended Sheridan College, where he quickly discovered a passion for the visual arts. Since graduating he has worked primarily as a designer and art director across many different animated productions for over ten years. Most notably he created &amp; directed the multi-award winning short film SPACE BETWEEN STARS at GURU STUDIO released in 2018. Currently he is developing new content of his own, as well as contributing to some large upcoming film and video game projects. Alongside his work in animation, he has a deep love for consuming &amp; creating comics. His heart is split between his creative pursuits, travelling the world with the people dearest to him, and befriending dogs whenever and wherever possible. You can find more of his work at www.dreamylabs.com

TAAFI News

Toronto Animation Film Festival

Toronto Animation Industry Conference

Toronto Animation / VFX Job Fair

Navigating The World Of Shorts

Joel MacKenzie, Writer/Director/Designer

Mathias Richard Horhager, Creator/ Director/ Writer, Brown Bag Films

Sam Bradley, Artist / Writer