Winter Miller's In Darfur, playing now at SummerWorks, is set in 2004, when the world knew little about the genocide in Sudan. Maryka is a reporter for The New York Times who wants to break the story and doesn't care what she risks in order to do so. Carlos is a UN doctor concerned only about the safety of the community he serves. And Hawa is an English teacher who has experienced the genocide......

Controversy magnet Kathy Griffin will be in town for her sold-out show at Massey Hall this Friday. Griffin is touring to support her new comedy album, For Your Consideration—which she is desperate to score a Grammy nod for—and the fourth season of her Emmy award-winning television show My Life On The D-List, now playing Friday nights on the Comedy Network. A hit TV show, an Emmy, and a tour that's selling like she's Madonna:......

When Antonin Artaud wrote Theatre and Its Double, the manifesto for his so-called Theatre of Cruelty, he called for the actors to bleed on the audience as well as a bunch of other things that are probably best left interpreted metaphorically. Surely, Glen Callendar's Transcendental Masturbation, now playing at the Fringe, was not exactly what he had in mind? During last night's performance, during a "peeling" joke gone awry, Callendar wound up removing not......

David, a show playing at this year's Fringe, opens with a video projection of a man taking a shower. This should come as little surprise for anyone who's seen the play's racy poster (although, don't be fooled into thinking you'll get to gawk at a nude dude, the super NSFW trailer on their website shows more nudity than the actual play). The shower scene segues into a light show with a pre-recorded voice over......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. Pride Parade 2008 BY JŌSÉ......

On Monday’s edition of Stars & Dogs, BNN personality Kim Parlee wondered if TD Canada Trust’s use of attractive and muscular models armed only with water guns, green briefs, and temporary tattoos of the bank’s logo, was too risqué for the Canadian institution. (Blogs show a mix of support and jeers for the marketing tactic.) It’s an interesting question: where should a company with a market cap of over $51 billion draw the line......

Sky Gilbert's Ladylike, a new one-act play written specifically for Canada's favourite trans woman, Nina Arsenault, comes to us by way of a well-received run in Hamilton. The play—in which Arsenault's character mostly addresses the audience (and occasionally her boyfriend, played by Wes Berger) on subjects like her family history, her many cosmetic surgery procedures, and ideas about gender construction—probably seemed pretty audacious and daring for Hamilton, but it's interesting to see how a......

Members of the Canadian Armed Forces marched in the Toronto Pride Parade yesterday, the first time that they have done so. This confirms, once and for all, that the massive international homosexual conspiracy does in fact attempt to recruit youth to their lifestyle. (Also, there is an enlistment bonus if you are willing to be gay in Afghanistan while carrying a rifle.) So, remember all that money Jim Flaherty promised to municipalities to help with......

Pride weekend is an event which fosters imbibing—both the "spirited" and non-alcoholic kind. When stopping into a store for some hydration after burning under a hot sun, Pridegoers need to watch what they drink for an important reason: they may not like where their money is going when it comes to two popular beverage companies—Rockstar and Bolthouse Farms.......

The Saucy Tarts starting off the night. Last night, 75 people turned up for the Burlesque Pride show held at Goodhandy's, presented by Skin Tight Outta Sight and the Saucy Tarts. Over three hours, attendees were treated to French-flavoured performances by the Saucy Tarts, a glittering and tattooed Marilyn Monroe, and a surreal R-rated rendition of the Lonely Goatherd—think Broke-baa Mountain. The night was hosted by Keith Cole, who kept the night moving with......

June is a great time to get a little prideful. Tuesday was the fifth anniversary of legalized same-sex marriages in Ontario, and Pride Toronto kicks off next Friday and runs until Sunday, June 29. (Keep an eye on Torontoist for full details on the Pride to-do list.) In the meantime, it might be a good idea to get in some exercise. Don't take it personally: it's to prep for the 5K Pride and Remembrance......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

The long weekend may be over, but Inside Out is still going strong. Tonight the festival will be presenting its Centrepiece Gala: a screening of Australian gay surfer movie Newcastle. It seems worth noting that this is the second gay surfer movie of the festival, following the much-buzzed Shelter, which played last Friday. But despite obvious superficial similarities, the two films are actually quite different. Newcastle is about three brothers, for all of whom......

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......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. In the Crowd 1995 BY ARCHONEUS......

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......

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......

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. The big ticket is undoubtedly Shelter (pictured), which has already generated a significant amount of buzz on the prissy, reactionary gay......

Gay movies get a bad rap. Even some of the most avowed homosexualists we know cringe at the thought of curling up in front of anything other than Brokeback Mountain, or possibly The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. Well, the mouthful that is the Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival is doing everything it can to change that. The festival, which opens its 18th season tonight, showcases films......

Sex and the City is all over the place. Lead character Carrie's draped on the side of a Yorkville building accompanied by the worst tagline ever: "Get Carried away." Groan. Kim Cattrall is here, here, and here in reruns going over stuff she'd already mentioned when the show ended: yes, you're right to get paid more; no, you're not anything like Samantha; and, maybe, we'll forget that you wrote a sex book. On the radio,......

Photo by wili_hybrid. There is little more dreadful for a parent than unintentionally hurting one's own child. There is little more traumatic for a child than having something they dearly want taken away from them. A Toronto psychologist is under fire for recommending controversial treatments which some believe cause just that. A heartbreaking NPR documentary released this week tells the story of two families struggling with the gender identities of their children. "Bradley" is......

Is anyone else sick of those borderline-offensive Canadian Club ads they've been running in NOW lately? Based on the strange notion that thinking about your parents having sex will make you want to buy things, the whiskey's "Damn Right" campaign tries to create nostalgia for the fatherly masculinity of yesteryear. They use "vintage" photos and the grammatically invincible tagline "DAMN RIGHT YOUR DAD DRANK IT" as a rallying cry for some kind of boozy......

Happy: A Very Gay Little Musical is the latest show to open at Buddies and also the first musical by Sky Gilbert the theatre has produced in 17 years. And what a tricky little number it is. Essentially a musical about people writing a musical about people writing a musical, Happy tells the story of Bob and Dave, a married gay couple writing a musical about themselves, and Sue, Bob's dramaturg/faghag extraordinaire. Some scenes......

Well, the snow has melted, which means it must be about time for Factory to remount another George F. Walker show. This year, it's 1974's Beyond Mozambique, which hasn't been performed by Factory in thirty years. As the title implies, this early piece by the seminal Canadian playwright is many miles away from more popular, recent Walker plays, such as the Suburban Motel and East End Plays cycles, which typically focus on working-class Torontonians......

If you're feeling like it's been a while since your last dose of post-punk, queer, feminist culture, then you'll be happy to hear that this Wednesday, The Power Plant (Toronto's leading contemporary art gallery) will have your fix. They'll be screening selections from the oeuvre of avant-garde, DIY filmmaker Sadie Benning. Benning, who was one of the founding members of the seminal band Le Tigre, made her first film at the tender age of fifteen,......

You really have to wonder how performance artist and sexual activist Louise Bak always manages to schedule the very best mix of the Toronto literary scene for her Box Salon series. The successful poet and CIUT "Sex City" host founded the event back in 1998, and a decade later it is still the most entertaining literary night out in Toronto. While many other reading series can be hit or miss, the Box is consistently fresh,......