<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

In these Co-vid times, two sitcoms (One Day At A TIme, black-ish) chose the animation route in order to deliver powerful episodes about voting and the upcoming US Election. Join our panelists from Big Jump Entertainment, Smiley Guy as well as director Mathias Horager and Producer of black-ish, Tom Ragazzo as they talk about going the animated route and the future of animation in primetime.

The Sitcom Gets Animated

Jennifer Griffiths is an Executive Director at Big Jump Entertainment. Her scope of work encompasses Production and Development as well as Studio Operations. Her passions include Marketing and most importantly, Employee Wellness. She plays an integral role in Big Jump’s Artists First Initiatives and is also thrilled to welcome hundreds of burgeoning new Artists to Big Jump Entertainments Co-op Program every year! Jen would like to recognize her magnificent creative teammates Meg Garrioch (who helps make all visions and chicken scratches into something incredible!), Allecia Robb (who’s tireless enthusiasm aids in improving the Co-op program at every turn!), and All the Artists and Leadership Team at Big Jump Entertainment, without whom, Jennifer would not be having such a wonderful time; and to whom she owes all her thanks and respect! Jennifer is an internationally recognized marketer. She was recently thrilled to Project Manage the Animated Special of One Day at a Time and Produced the Animated Special of Black-ish, with Big jump Entertainment and Smiley Guy Studios.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Jennifer Griffiths

Jonas Diamond is the Executive Producer of Smiley Guy Studios and CEO of iThentic. For over 20 years, Jonas has been instrumental in growing the company’s production business and arranging financing for its many original properties. Jonas’ Producer credits include: Odd Job Jack, Space Riders, Corner Gas: The Movie - Digital, Corner Gas Animated for Bell Media; Pillars of Freedom, Canada Crew Interactive, Finding Stuff Out Online and Cutie Pugs for TVO; Turbo Dogs, Chirp, A Christmas Carol, Save Me and The Curse of Clara for CBC; Sons of Butcher, The Dating Guy, Skatoony, and GeoFreakZ for Teletoon; Dad Drives and Operation Unplugged Digital for Blue Ant; Überdude and Teleporting Fat Guy for Smosh; Hatchimals for Spinmaster; One Day at a Time animated for Sony / Viacom and Black-ish animated for ABC; Warren United, Wussywat and the feature SOS: SAVE OUR SKINS with Baby Cow; features Everyday Is Like Sunday and Todd and the Book of Pure Evil: The End of the End; and the Emmy/Rockie/Digi/Canadian Screen Award winning GUIDESTONES. Jonas has been a board member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema &amp; TV since 2011.

Jonas Diamond

Joel Gregorio is a Filipino-Canadian Producer who approaches projects not just as a storyteller but also as a technician. Utilizing his extensive production background in VFX, editing and post production. Aside from the creative and techincal, his emphasis is on recognizing and fostering talent as well as mobilizing resources for unique and challenging projects.Having worked in a variety of creative and technical roles throughout different stages of production he has supervised and produced award winning digital series (live action), commercials, and various animated series.More recently, he has served as Animation Producer on the One Day At A Time Animated Special and as Animation Producer on the Black-ish Election Special. Currently he serves as a Producer on the CSA award winning Corner Gas Animated series, now in production on its 4th season. He was also involved in the series' development from live action to animation.

Joel Gregorio

Mike Valiquette is a director, producer, creative development exec, and designer who has won some awards, worked for many big fancy clients and teaches at both Algonquin College in Ottawa and Seneca in Toronto. He maintains a small boutique studio, Go Lucky, and the long-running Canadian animation resource site, Cartoon North.&nbsp;

Mike Valiquette

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 most recently directed two animated specials for live-action sitcoms; a reboot of Norman Lear's One Day at a Time and an election special for Black-ish. His current role is 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 2020 is leveraging his strong storytelling ability as a TV writer.

Mathias Richard Horhager 

Tom Ragazzo was born and raised in New York, just north of New York City. He attended Emerson College and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in TV/Video Production. His 18 year career in Hollywood started as a Production Assistant on the movie Along Came Polly and has since expanded to include many roles for many shows. He has done everything from PA, to Casting Associate, to Assistant Editor and Editor, to Post Production Supervisor, Associate Producer, Co-Producer and now Producer. He's been fortunate to work on many big name projects, including the entire series of NBC's Parks and Recreation, the pilot of Brooklyn 99, The Good Place, Showtime's United States of Tara, and now ABC's Black-ish, Grown-ish and Mixed-ish. Tom also Produced, Directed, Shot and Edited a behind the scenes web series about Parks and Rec's final season, which was ultimately nominated for a PrimeTime Emmy Award. Tom is currently a Producer on the -ish family of shows, where his primary duty is the head of Post Production for all three shows, with his role recently expanding to support the EPs/writers and production now as well.&nbsp;

Tom Ragazzo

Break out the Saturday morning breakfast cereal early! With its bold redesigns and frenetic pacing,&nbsp;Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles split audiences when it arrived in&nbsp;2018, but fans were steadily won over by the skillfully developed characters, vibrant storytelling, sharp comedy, and even edgier action. (That's a sword pun, I tried.)&nbsp;&nbsp;While&nbsp;"Strike&nbsp;hard and fade away,&nbsp;without a trace" is sound advice for any ninja, hard to track toys and infrequent airings left audiences hungry for more, even before the series was cut short in August 2020 and production shifted to focus on the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.Join Executive Co-Producers Ant Ward and Andy Suriano, Colour and Design Supervisor Carl Beu, Director and Storyboard Artist JJ Conway, and Annie Award Winning Sakuga Guru Kevin Molina-Ortiz for an in-depth celebration on the heart, art, and artistry of Nickelodeon's newest and most innovative adaptation of the world's favorite half-shelled heroes, and share some never-before-seen content.

EVERYONE needs to watch RISE of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Andy Suriano is a 20+ year veteran of animation and comics, having worked on such series as Samurai Jack, Disney's Mickey Mouse shorts and most recently was an Executive Producer of the RISE of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Nickelodeon. Currently Andy is co-directing the RISE movie for Netflix.&nbsp;

Andy Suriano

Ant Ward is an award-winning animator, writer, and producer. He has worn many hats working on several shows, including Camp Lazlo, Penguins of Madagascar, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He recently served as an Executive Producer for Nickelodeon’s Rise of the TMNT and is currently Co-Directing the upcoming Rise movie for Netflix.

Ant Ward

Carl Beu is a seasoned animation artist with nearly a decade of experience across several studios and projects. Formerly acting as the Color Supervisor on Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, he is now Design Supervisor on the upcoming Rise movie. Other notable projects include Motorcity, as well as shorts for Metallica, Dark Souls and Assassins Creed.

Carl Beu

JJ Conway has worked in the animation industry since 2011 at studios such as Nickelodeon, Warner Bros Animation, Hasbro, and Titmouse. He directed on the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, and currently serves as Head of Story on the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film for Netflix. He also worked on the animated classic Foodfight!&nbsp;

JJ Conway

Kevin Molina-Ortiz is an Annie Award winning board artist who made a name for himself by drawing a bunch turtles practice ninjitsu.&nbsp;He is most known for his storyboard work on Nickelodeon’s Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.&nbsp;And he now serves as Head of Story on the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie for Netflix.&nbsp;On his free time, he does pretty much anything that isn’t drawing turtles.

Kevin Molina-Ortiz

New to the behind the scenes of TAAFI, Thalia is a 10 year industry veteran with a passionate enthusiasm for all things cartoon, and a resume that includes the Willoughby's, Addams Family 2, My Little Pony the Movie, and various TV productions.When this west coast transplant isn't storyboarding, you can find her live-streaming on Twitch <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/drawsforfun" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">(DrawsforFun)</a>, or trying to fix her terrible posture.

Thalia Lemon

Grab a cold one! Grab a pencil! It's time for the after-party - join the festival crew for a live post-conference art session on our shiny new <a href="https://discord.gg/fkk2uEuwXe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Discord Server</a>.&nbsp;New to Discord? It’s like an online chat room with different topics.&nbsp;Still scared? Don’t worry we’ll walk you through it.Order your beer in advance from <a href="https://collectiveartsontario.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Collective Arts Brewery</a> and have it delivered for FREE using the promo code TAAFIxIndustryWednesday's Drink n' Draw will be hosted by Thalia and Barnabas with some very special guests in attendance.

Grab a cold one! Grab a pencil! It's time for the after-party - join the festival crew for a live post-conference art session on our shiny new Discord Server.&nbsp;New to Discord? It’s like an online chat room with different topics.&nbsp;Still scared? Don’t worry we’ll walk you through it.

Drink n' Draw - Wednesday Edition

Joel and Spencer met during an epic hot-dog eating competition in Ottawa. After finishing in a tie, they developed a mutual respect for one another and decided to join forces.When these two weenie boys aren't on the clock, working on hit cartoons, you can find them kicking back with their many, many friends, sipping and sketching. Come join the fun on Thursday night in the <a href="https://discord.gg/fkk2uEuwXe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TAAFI Discord Server</a>, as Joel and Spencer invite you to be friends with them and drink and draw the night away!

Joel & Spencer

Hi I'm the <a href="https://discord.gg/fkk2uEuwXe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TAAFI Discord Server</a>. Come join me for the full conference experience and join the REAL conversation. You can network with other&nbsp;attendees, post links to your work, say hi to new friends and we'll also host the nightly Drink n' Draw sessions here. Wow wow wooo! I'd hug if I had arms, but I don't, so no hugs. AND NO TOUCHING!

TAAFI News

Toronto Animation Film Festival

Toronto Animation Industry Conference

Toronto Animation / VFX Job Fair

Drink n' Draw - Wednesday Edition

Joel & Spencer, Creators - Animators - Drinkers, Freelance Weenies

Thalia Lemon, Storyboard Director, Stellar Creative Labs

TAAFI Discord Server, Online, Skynet