Results tagged “festivals”

So, we know we were all abuzz about summer festivals just this morning, but time is tickin' along, and everyone's just so busy that we thought we'd skip right ahead to autumn. This morning organizers unveiled Nuit Blanche 2009, at a suit- and camera-happy press conference at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Another year's Luminato has come and now gone, raising the question of just how brightly this new(ish) festival's star is shining.

Summer festival season is about to begin in earnest, and kicking things off is that multi-disciplinary, multi-location, multi-day extravaganza known as Luminato. With everything from nine-hour theatrical epics to a giant red ball popping up where you may least expect it, Luminato is again sure to draw its share of fans and also its share of haters. (It's whimsical fun! It's heartlessly corporate! Stuff is free! Stuff is overpriced! Pick a point of view, and you're bound to find someone who shares it.) Ever your intrepid cultural emissaries, we'll be on the lookout for the wacky, the wonderful, and the just plain trying-too-hard.

Apparently we weren't the only ones at Hot Docs this year: the festival is boasting, in a press release, that attendance hit 122,000—"an astounding 42% increase over 2008." And that's with the same number of films being shown this year as last. The festival also announced the winner of their Audience Award—The Cove, which is unfortunately not a sequel to Leonardo DiCaprio's The Beach but is, instead, about dolphins.

You love documentaries. We love documentaries. And what better way to forget our differences and come together in this love than at Hot Docs? Repping 171 titles from 39 countries, the 16th annual documentary festival and confab announced its full slate today at a jammed press conference at Revival.

WORDS: Torontonian artist Steve Driscoll is launching his new book, Steve Driscoll: Conversations, this afternoon at David Mirvish Books. The book showcases the changes and developments in Driscoll's paintings over the last eight years, and the launch will also include an exhibition of the work presented in Driscoll's book. David Mirvish Books (596 Markham Street), 2 p.m., FREE.

FESTIVAL: The TrekZac FestiCon, a day-long celebration of Star Trek, returns to The Tranzac today for its second year. The mini-convention kicks off at 1 p.m. with a Steam Whistle Brewing beer tasting, along with performances from Laura Barrett, Mackenzie King (formerly Ontario Power Generation), and Woodhands frontman Dan Werb. At 3 p.m. the “convention” begins and will include a lecture by David Dineen-Porter, a demonstration of Klingon ceremonies and rituals, and a panel discussion entitled “Am I a Borg?” which will be moderated by Trampoline Hall host Misha Glouberman. From 6–8 p.m., the Star Trek: TNG fan film Chains of Betrayal will be screened, there will be a Star Trek trivia contest and Star Trek-themed craft making, and, best of all, visitors will get the opportunity to control a video game with their brainwaves (seriously). At 8 p.m., there will be a showcase of comedy and music, featuring performances from the Bicycles, Laura Barrett, Woodhands, The Cheap Speakers, and The Rural Alberta Advantage. The Tranzac (292 Brunswick Avenue), 1 p.m., $5–$10.

MUSIC: This morning, come to the Tranzac to celebrate the release of the highly-anticipated first album from Laura Barrett, Victory Garden. At 11:30 a.m., a healthy brunch made by Laura Barrett and Ajay Mehra will be served. At 1:30 p.m., music! There will be a set by Ghost Bees, a solo performance from Woodhands singer Dan Werb, and—of course—a performance by Barrett herself. The party will be framed nicely with animations and artwork brought to you by Tin Can Forest, Isaac King, and Chris DeCastro. Tranzac (292 Brunswick Avenue), 11:30 a.m., $10 ($17, with brunch).

WORDS: “This Is Not A Reading Series For Tots,” a new monthly literary program for children that we told you about a few weeks ago, is launching today at the Gladstone Hotel. Kids aged two to eight will get to meet the authors of childrens’ books and participate in art activities, sing-a-longs, and puppet shows. Speaking today is Matt Hammill, who will be giving a PowerPoint presentation about his new book, Sir Reginald’s Logbook. Kids will then get to do some art projects with author/artist Irene Luxbacher, who will guide the kids through some of the lessons in her Starting Art Series for children. Hosting the event is playwright/novelist Claudia Dey. Gladstone Hotel Ballroom (1214 Queen Street West), 8:30 a.m., FREE.

FESTIVAL: Ladyfest kicks off their highly anticipated music series tonight, as the week-long festival continues. Tonight, come out to the Boat for performances from electronic soul group Lal, alternative crooner Emma McKenna, and experimental pop band Miau Miau. Also starting today is "Ooh-La-La," the female-identifying art exhibit at Beaver Hall Gallery (rescheduled from Sunday), which will run until September 27. The Boat (158 Augusta Avenue), 9 p.m., $5–$10.

FESTIVAL: The Manifesto Festival of Music and Art is returning for its second year. The festival runs until Sunday and will feature art exhibitions, a street dance competition, a market devoted to the wares of young entrepreneurs, and musical performances from Rascalz and k-os. Tonight's event is a music showcase at The Mod Club featuring performances by Torontoist fave Shad, and Hey Ocean (722 College Street, 8 p.m., $12). Tomorrow, check out a special edition of Hip Hop Karaoke at Revival (783 College Street, 9:30 p.m., $5–$10) and the Manifesto Film Festival which is happening at the ROM (100 Queens Park), 7 p.m., $10.

SPORTS: A community meeting is being held tonight by City Councillor Bill Saundercook to discuss bike lanes running along Annette Street between Runnymede Road and Jane Street. The Toronto Cyclists Union is encouraging "strength in numbers," asking that "everyone who wants Toronto to have a secure, connected bicycle network should attend." James Culnan Catholic School (605 Willard Avenue), 7 p.m., FREE.

FOOD: After their wildly successful inaugural event, Picnic at the Brick Works is back for a second year. For four hours, celebrity chefs are paired with local food producers to create unique culinary creations using sustainable, Ontario-grown foods. The goal of the event is to promote economically-friendly food, for the sake of a sustainable-food future as energy costs continue to skyrocket. This year's celebrity chefs include Jamie Kennedy, Keith Froggett, and Owen Steinberg. Rain or shine! Evergreen Brick Works (550 Bayview Avenue), 12 p.m., $110.

FESTIVAL: A two-day tribute to cult film The Big Lebowski is going down this weekend. LollapaDUDEza kicks off tonight with a screening of the film at Rancho Relaxo, and a Lebowski-themed costume contest. Following the screening, there will be a Lebowski trivia competition, as well as karaoke. Your ticket also gets you a free drink at the bar! If you can't make it out this evening, LollapaDUDEza has booked the Bathurst Bowlerama for three hours of (what else?) bowling tomorrow, from 4–7 p.m. After that, there will be a tribute night back over at the Rancho where local bands will be covering CCR songs and other Big Lebowski soundtrack gems. Rancho Relaxo (300 College Street), 9 p.m., $15 (or $25 for a two-day pass, which includes admission to bowling).

FESTIVAL: The Scotiabank BuskerFest is back for its ninth year. This year's line-up includes over forty of the world's best buskers from Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. BuskerFest is free with an optional donation to Epilepsy Toronto; since its inception, BuskerFest has raised over half of a million dollars for the organization. Come out to enjoy the circus performers, magic shows, and artistic spectacles, and leave knowing it's all for a good cause. St. Lawrence Market (92 Front Street East), 10 a.m.–8 p.m., FREE.

FESTIVAL: The Canadian National Exhibition is back and bigger than ever this year. Along with the usual carnival rides, games, and snacks, there will be an outdoor acrobatic and pyrotechnic circus performance, equestrian shows, an escape artist, and the always-popular IAMS SuperDogs Show. Visitors can also get a preview of new state-of-the-art TTC subway cars set to debut in 2010, which will be on display in front of the Direct Energy Centre for the duration of the CNE. Plus, if you go tonight, you'll be treated to a live performance by Q107 deejay (and uh, rock star) Kim Mitchell. Exhibition Place (100 Princes' Boulevard), 10 a.m.–10 p.m., $14.

The combination of DJs, electronica, and dancing usually renders images of dark, sweaty clubs pulsing with drum 'n' bass into the late hours of the night (or the wee hours of the morning). Sometimes it's hard to put a face to your favorite spin doctors between black lights and dry ice, dimly lit clubs and small DJ booths. But on the west side music scene this weekend, the times, they are a-changin'.

FESTIVAL: Toronto's annual Taste of the Danforth festival returns tonight and runs until Sunday. Along with the usual smorgasbord of excellent Greek food come expected crowds of over 500,000, and a healthy serving of ambivalence. Danforth Avenue from Broadview Avenue to Jones Avenue, 6 p.m., FREE.

MUSIC: Before their performance tomorrow night at Sneaky Dee's, critically-acclaimed group Colourbook will be playing a show as part of Ryan McLaren's ALL CAPS concert series. Also on the bill are Cobras Cobras Cobras and Brides. Whippersnapper Gallery (587A College Street), 6:30 p.m., $6.

Graffiti, electronica(rt), haircuts, DJs, vogueing ninjas... ah, yet another weekend festival in Toronto. Club beats and street breaks intersect at Queens Quay West this weekend as part of the Harbourfront's World Routes weekly summer festival series. There's a full event listing here, but we've picked and panned out a few points of interest for your pleasure at the pier.

Well, this is it: the last day of this year's Inside Out festival, and consequently, the last day of our extensive coverage. It's been a gay, gay blast, but some of us are about ready for a nap. If you haven't caught any screenings so far, this is your last chance for a whole year, and there are still a few cool things to catch. You'll be happy to know that seminal gay Aussie movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (pictured) is just as funny today as it was 14 years ago when it was released and not only introduced us to Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving, but also resuscitated Terence Stamp's career. If you haven't seen the movie (or if by some terrible mistake you thought To Wong Foo... was the great drag queen road movie of the mid-90s), now is your chance to catch it in all of its sparkling, glittery glory on the big screen. And if you are already one of the initiated, even better. Put on your best wig and brush up on your ABBA lyrics so you can take full advantage of the "sing-and-drag-along" screening. We're not saying going will necessarily bring you to Paradise, but it might just bring you to you.

Inside Out film goers who had their hearts set on seeing With Gilbert and George, a documentary about the lives of the European "living sculpture" artists are in for something of a disappointment as the screening has been cancelled. In its place, the festival will be showing Shelter for a second time. If you can stand a complete change of mood, the film really is charming and worth a look. Another screening of interest is the Queer Youth Digital Video Project, an initiative started by Inside Out which will consist of 14 short films made on the cheap by queer youth specifically for the festival.

It's closing weekend for Inside Out, but there are still a bunch of interesting films left to see. One of the most exciting screenings today is The Witnesses (pictured), the new film from acclaimed French writer-director André Téchiné, who also made the queer-themed The Wild Reeds. Set in and around Paris in 1984, the film follows a small and rather incestuous group of friends who all become affected by the onset of the AIDS epedemic. The arrival of beautiful teenager Manu shakes up the lives of promiscuous couple Sarah and Medhi, as well as their gay friend Adrien, especially when both other men fall in love with the charismatic Manu. Things go from messy to messier when Manu is diagnosed as HIV positive. At once charming and heartbreaking, this beautifully made film is both a detailed character study and a fascinating look at the early years of the AIDS crisis. All of the cast are excellent, particularly Johan Libéreau as Manu and the always-fabulous Emmanuelle Béart as Sarah.

It's a pretty quiet day at Inside Out, with only six screenings. Fans of European movies/men might take interest in Italy's Saturn in Opposition, and the artfag must-see of the day is definitely the doc Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff + Robert Mapplethorpe. If you're feeling in the mood for something South American, Argentina's La León (pictured) is the clear choice. Set in a small and remote rural community in northern Argentina's Paraná Delta, this strikingly photographed black-and-white film tells the story of Alvaro, the only gay in the village. Most of the community's fishers and workers are content to let the private Alvaro be, but alpha male Turu considers Alvaro to be a threat and tries to turn the community against him. There is so little dialogue in the film that when characters do speak, it's often something of a surprise. The tone is so sleepy and the pacing so slow and restive that you couldn't necessarily be blamed for drifting off in the middle of the movie. But if you've just had a coffee and are ready to really focus on something, you might find La León very rewarding. Plus, think about all the jokes you can make to your friends afterwards about "Gay Pride."

Inside Out rages on. One of the biggest-name movies of the festival screens tonight: Paul Schrader's The Walker. The film stars Woody Harrelson as a "Walker," a well-to-do gay man who "walks" wealthy women around to society events their husbands are too busy for (interestingly enough, this "profession" also came up in Sunday's Savage Grace). These women include the always-fabulous Lily Tomlin and Lauren Bacall. But things get complicated when Harrelson's character gets drawn into a messy murder mystery after his best friend (played by Kristen Scott Thomas) discovers her lover has been killed. Willem Dafoe also has a small role as Thomas' politician husband. A gay-themed murder mystery with a cast that awesome sounds like a really good time, but unfortunately, The Walker never really lives up to its potential. Sloppy editing really upsets the film's pace and makes the story hard to follow, and for a film being screened at Inside Out, the gay storyline is underdeveloped and unbelievably castrated. Harrelson and his boyfriend (played by Run Lola Run's sexy Moritz Bleibtreu) are about as affectionate to each other as a couple of maiden aunts.

It's Victoria Day Monday, and what better way to celebrate that old queen's birthday than by watching a bunch of gay movies at Inside Out? Things kick off at noon with a gay daddy doc double-bill at the ROM. We didn't get a chance to check out Fatherhood Dreams, a Canadian film about four gay men who are all fathers in different ways, but we did see Daddy's Love, a film about a Norwegian single gay man and the American woman who agrees to be the surrogate for his child. It's interesting to see how someone without a partner goes through the process of becoming a parent (especially the bits that involve his adorable and supportive mom). Another doc worth catching is The Beirut Apt, which shows interviews with various gay people living in Lebanon, a country rife with contradictory cultural identities and institutional homophobia. Shot only a year ago, the film also serves as an interesting chronicle of local citizens' reactions to the recent Hezbollah-Israeli conflict.

The Inside Out festival continues today with ten different screenings. One of the more high-profile films in the festival is Savage Grace, the new film from Tom Kalin starring Julianne Moore. Kalin is probably best known for is 1992 film Swoon, based on the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder case. So it should come as no surprise that Savage Grace is based on the real life murder of Barbara Daly Baekeland by her son Antony. Julianne Moore plays the doomed heiress whose increasingly codependent and unhealthy relationship with her gay son culminates in incest and eventually her own death. Moore is outstanding as Barabara, devouring every piece of celluloid she touches and Eddie Redmayne is eerily compelling as her creepy son. The whole piece is quite beautifully shot and well-made in general, but the subject matter has a certain Ick Factor which means the film is definitely not for everyone.

It's Day 3 at the excellently-programmed Inside Out festival. One of the more interesting films to catch this afternoon is It's Still Elementary: The Movie and the Movement (pictured) over at the National Film Board. It's actually a documentary about another documentary, 1996's It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School, a groundbreaking film that showed elementary school teachers discussing homosexuality with children. But don't worry if you haven't seen its predecessor: It's Still Elementary is still a really fascinating doc exploring the controversy and the impact of the earlier film. It's also evidence that arguments that younger children "won't understand" these kinds of conversations are entirely bogus, and the now-grown-up kids from It's Elementary have only good things to say about being involved in the project.

Officially, this is Day Two of the 18th annual Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival, but it's the first fully programmed day, with 8 different screenings happening. And things are starting off with a bang! There are so many cool screenings going on today, you're actually spoiled for choice.

Going to see a staged reading is pretty much the theatrical equivalent of watching a live jam band, only in this case the target audience is not inhalant abusers. It’s like a play, but with no movement and featuring an additional character—Mr. or Mrs. Reads The Stage Directions.