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

Toronto Animation Film Festival

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

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

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

Toronto Animation Industry Conference

<h3>Where</h3><p>Online</p><h3>When</h3><p>November 18-22, 2020<span class="ql-cursor">﻿</span></p>

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

Toronto Animation / VFX Job Fair

TAAFI News

<p>AMY SMEED (Head of Animation) began her professional career at Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1998, working as an assistant (in the scene set-up department) on the production of “Dinosaur,” and went on to become an animator in 2004 on “Chicken Little” (2005).  Since then, she has served as head of animation on the Oscar®-nominated films “Moana” and “Raya and the Last Dragon.” She also animated on such Disney Animation features as “Meet the Robinsons,” “Bolt,” “Tangled,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” the Oscar® winner “Frozen,” and “Ralph Breaks the Internet.”  </p><p>Smeed’s animation of the character Rapunzel for “Tangled” earned her a VES Award nomination for outstanding animated character in an animated motion picture. Her other Disney Animation credits include work on the theme park attraction, “Mickey’s Philharmagic,” and on both of the award-winning “Prep &amp; Landing” TV specials.</p><p>Born and raised in Royal Oak, Michigan, Smeed attended Western Michigan University for three years, before going on to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997. Her dreams of becoming a painter and animator led her to seek work in the animation industry and to her current job leading a team of animators for Disney Animation. </p><p>Working at the Disney has provided her with several opportunities to collaborate with her husband, Tony Smeed, who served as animation supervisor for “Zootopia” and head of animation on “Frozen 2.” The couple met during the production of “Dinosaur,” and have a daughter.</p>

<p>AMY SMEED (Head of Animation) began her professional career at Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1998, working as an assistant (in the scene set-up department) on the production of “Dinosaur,” and went on to become an animator in 2004 on “Chicken Little” (2005). Since then, she has served as head of animation on the Oscar®-nominated films “Moana” and “Raya and the Last Dragon.” She also animated on such Disney Animation features as “Meet the Robinsons,” “Bolt,” “Tangled,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” the Oscar® winner “Frozen,” and “Ralph Breaks the Internet.”</p>

Amy Smeed

<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Andy Suriano is a 20+ year veteran of animation and comics, having worked on such series as </span><em>Samurai Jack</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">, Disney's Mickey Mouse shorts and most recently was an Executive Producer of the </span><em>RISE of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"> for Nickelodeon. Currently Andy co-directing the RISE movie for Netflix.&nbsp;</span></p>

<p>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 co-directing the RISE movie for Netflix.&nbsp;</p>

Andy Suriano

<p>Join DNEG Animation's creative team behind Entergalactic for a project overview and panel discussion on how they achieved this project's incredibly stylized look by bending the rules of the CG animation pipeline. </p>

Thalia Lemon

Painting a Universe: Exploring the Look of Entergalactic

Archie Donato

Chris Gooch

Chrissy Metge

Kapil Sharma

<p>Archie Donato is a talented VFX Supervisor with over 25 years of experience in visual effects for feature film, episodic content and feature animation. He is the VFX Supervisor for the Netflix series ‘Entergalactic’.  He brings a wealth of artistic and technical experience to the role of VFX Supervisor for DNEG Animation, having crafted his career at companies such as ILM, Technicolor, Rhythm and Hues and Digital Domain, including 17 years at DreamWorks Animation. </p><p>During his time at DreamWorks, Archie contributed to many of the studio’s biggest films, most notably as CG Lead on ‘Kung Fu Panda’, ‘Megamind’, ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ and ‘Shrek Forever After’, before his promotion to Lighting Supervisor on ‘Rise of the Guardians’ and CG Supervisor for ‘Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman’.</p><p>After leaving DreamWorks, Archie turned his talents to the supervision of VFX for episodic content, including work on shows such as ‘Home Before Dark’ for Apple TV+, ‘Messiah’ for Netflix and ‘The Loudest Voice’ for Showtime.</p><p>Archie originally comes from a traditional film background. As a film school graduate he began his career working on camera crews for features, TV, commercials and music videos before becoming a visual effects artist in the late nineties. Following his first gig as a camera tracker on Roland Emmerich’s ‘Godzilla’, Archie went on to become a VFX artist, contributing to shows such as ‘Star Wars: Episode II’, ‘Stuart Little’, ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’ and ‘Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius’.  </p>