<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

Born and raised in Brazil, Ana Gusson is a director and 2d animator. She has a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and was a production designer and assistant art director in film and advertising in South Brazil. Looking for new opportunities, she came to Canada to attend the classical animation program at Vancouver Film School, where she found, not only a new storytelling tool, but also a long, lost creative voice.&nbsp;At VFS, Ana successfully directed two short films - Serio and Mushrooming. Serio participated in over a dozen festivals around the world, including Fantoche in Switzerland. Since then, she has worked as an animator in productions like My Little Pony: The Movie, the second season of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Netflix’s Archibald’s Next Big Thing. Ana is currently part of the senior animation team at Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver, BC.&nbsp;Aside from her work as an animator, Ana dedicates time to creating her own animation projects and collaborates with other artists in projects that envision long-term social impact.

Born and raised in Brazil, Ana Gusson is a director and 2d animator. She has a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and was a production designer and assistant art director in film and advertising in South Brazil. Looking for new opportunities, she came to Canada to attend the classical animation program at Vancouver Film School, where she found, not only a new storytelling tool, but also a long, lost creative voice.&nbsp;At VFS, Ana successfully directed two short films - Serio and Mushrooming. Serio participated in over a dozen festivals around the world, including Fantoche in Switzerland. Since then, she has worked as an animator in productions like My Little Pony: The Movie, the second season of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Netflix’s Archibald’s Next Big Thing. Ana is currently part of the senior animation team at Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver, BC.&nbsp;Aside from her work as an animator, Ana dedicates time to creating her own animation projects and collaborates with other artists in projects that envision long-term social impact.

Ana Gusson

Lopside AnimationTara Billinger and Zach Bellissimo are the creators of Long Gone Gulch, an independently produced, fully animated 20 minute pilot. Funded through Kickstarter, this was a true passion project that took five years and brought industry professionals and prolific freelancers together. They have since founded Lopside Animation and plan to create more original animated projects (like Dark Dark Dark) while working full time in the animation industry.&nbsp;Zach Bellissimo is currently a director on Victor and Valentino at Cartoon Network.&nbsp;He’s also worked as storyboard artist on Teen Titans Go, did character designs on Rick &amp; Morty and worked as an animator on Motorcity and Superjail.&nbsp;

Zach Bellissimo

In conversation with Vanessa Esteves &amp; Adrian Thatcher. Both talents really bring a unique perspective – Vanessa is a supervising producer and Adrian a director. They also created their own series, Super Wish, which is in production, and Vanessa’s screenplay Christopher and the Bug was a finalist for Hollyshorts. Their combined experience could be interesting for budding creators/writers’ and all you Industry folks!

Creators Conversations - Adrian and Vanessa

Adrian Thatcher is a Toronto based animated series director and has worked in animation for over 22 years at both, Walt Disney Television Animation and Nelvana. In 2010, Adrian won a Daytime Emmy Award for individual achievement in art direction in recognition of his work on the Nelvana series, Willa’s Wild Life. Adrian’s most recent directing credits include Ollie’s Pack, Bravest Warriors, Ranger Rob, and Oh No, It’s an Alien Invasion!.

Adrian Thatcher

A recent graduate of Centennial College’s Children’s Media Program, Quinn has spent many years volunteering at TAAFI and has joined as official STAAFI in 2021. He has a great love of animation and in particular the writing and production side of the industry while also keeping his visual arts skills strong. When he isn’t assisting the social media or organizing community game nights you can find him pondering life’s great questions or watching silly internet videos, y’know one of the two.

Quinn Doherty

Vanessa Esteves is a supervising creative producer, writer, content creator and showrunner with a passion for storytelling. Having over 17 years experience in the animation industry, Vanessa has worked in multiple genres with a strong focus on bridge-preschool and comedy. Vanessa has most recently overseen Agent Binky: Pets of the Universe, Max &amp; Ruby and Ranger Rob along with Nelvana’s own series of digital music videos, Toon Bops and is currently showrunning Super Wish, a comedy series that she co-created. When she’s not helping create animated content, she is often found watching it alongside the audience, her two young kids.

Vanessa Esteves

Nelvana 2021

Adrian Thatcher is a Toronto based animated series director and has worked in animation for over 22 years at both, Walt Disney Television Animation and Nelvana. In 2010, Adrian won a Daytime Emmy Award for individual achievement in art direction in recognition of his work on the Nelvana series, Willa’s Wild Life. Adrian’s most recent directing credits include Ollie’s Pack, Bravest Warriors, Ranger Rob, and Oh No, It’s an Alien Invasion!.