#TAAFI: THE 2016 TORONTO ANIMATION ARTS FESTIVAL KICKS-OFF THIS WEEKEND!

By Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong

The Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (TAAFI) kicks off today with a slew of incredible workshops, talks and new Animated Movies to be screened. The Festival starts Friday, April 22, 2016 and goes until Monday April 25, 2016. With a diverse and incredible line up of talks, workshops and film premieres there is plenty of things to do and excite oneself with at TAAFI this year.

Starting right off on Friday morning is a workshop with the cartoonist from the Hanna-Barbera era which would be an incredibly-fun workshop as Hanna-Barbera created most of the cartoons embraced by a generation of kids in the ’70s and ’80s. These series including the likes of The Flinstones, Jetsons, Tom and Jerry and so forth  now are viewed widely as classics by generations to follow. Later on in the day there is another workshop with Michael Rianda titled the Big Dipper workshop as he talks for 3 hours about how to get your story off the ground and seen by the world. He has worked on such shows as Gravity Falls and works with Sony Animation, so animators this would be a great workshop to attend. Wrapping-up the opening day there’s a screening of Spark directed by Aaron Woodley and voiced by Jessica Biel, Susan Sarandon, Hilary Swank and Patrick Stewart. Following the Film there is a Q&A and opening ceremonies.

On Saturday there is the TAAFI Animation Arts Maarket all day but there are several talks and workshops that are also incredibly interesting. The Hanna-Barbera era, Confessions of an Animaniac, The Inside-Outs of Pixar Animating all sound exquisite and discussions about the world of animation while the workshops of SHED/SideFX: Outside behind the scenes, Pipeline Studios: Vision Talent & Skill, as well as Super Science Friends from Kickstarter to YouTube all are engaging workshops about how to get a project off the ground and into cinema or online, and having them. To end Friday night there are two screenings of Nova and Possessed and an event called Nelvana Bouncing Ball, all of which provide are sure to provide a night of incredible fun.

Moving towards Sunday, the Maarket continues to run all day while there are Shorts, Talks, and Workshops to fulfill the rest of the day. There is a selection of student Shorts later on in the day on Sunday which to me always seems the most interesting because it showcases the work of the students who are just mastering their craft and gives us a glimpse at the potential future of Animated Films. As well, there are panels and talks subjected around Eric Goldberg, animator at Disney on projects like Aladdin on animating Genie, and co-director of Pocahontas. Also a talk with Laika + Kubo The Two Strings: Behind the Scenes which would be an incredibly engaging conversation as Laika changed the animation world in a way we have not seen in years in the mainstream when they first hit the scene.

Lastly, to wrap up on Monday there are three back-to-back workshops that encompass talent from Eric Goldberg as he talks about the classical animation craft, Richard Arroyo: Plusing story through animation talking about the creative process and best ways to tackle a project, and lastly but certainly not least Samantha Youssef: Movement and Form discussing how to draw and make it look natural.

With all of the great talks, workshops, panels, and screenings TAAFI is certainly the place to be this weekend as everything happens in rather one convenient location of George Brown College Waterfront campus.

 

More info on TAAFI here.