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Urban Planner: February 24, 2010
Urban Planner is Torontoist’s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to [email protected].
Photo of Peggy Baker by Chris Randle. Courtesy of DW Communications Inc.
DANCE: Celebrated Canadian dancer and choreographer Peggy Baker is bringing the first of three contemporary dance works, confluence, to Harbourfront Centre as part of NextSteps 09/10. Baker—who will bookend the show, performing the prologue and duet epilogue—is joined by dancers Larry Hahn, Sahara Morimoto, Sean Ling, and Kate Holden. She found inspiration for the piece in the work of Montreal visual artist Sylvia Safdie, as well as the biological essays of Lewis Thomas in his 1974 classic, Lives of a Cell. The show runs nightly through Saturday and closes on Sunday with a pay-what-you-can matinee. Enwave Theatre (231 Queens Quay West), 8 p.m., $25–30. Tickets available online.
FILM: Thirteen documentary films showcasing world figures in contemporary art will unspool at the seventh annual Canadian Art Reel Artists Film Festival. Tonight’s reception will feature the Canadian premiere of Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, a film by Tamra Davis that chronicles the painter’s rise to fame during the early 1980s in New York City. The screenings, which take place at Al Green Theatre and run through Sunday with free screenings for students on Friday, will include introductions and discussions with the filmmakers, artists, and curators. The Royal Conservatory, TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, Koerner Hall (273 Bloor Street West); 6:30 p.m.; opening reception $175, screenings $7–12, festival passes $65; tickets available online.
FILM: The seventh annual Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival opens tonight with a gala screening of Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Lixin Fan’s documentary, Last Train Home, which focuses on China’s quest to become an industrialized nation and follows one family during the rush of migrant workers who are trying to get home for a holiday pilgrimage. The festival, which runs through March 6 and is presented by Human Rights Watch and TIFF Cinematheque, features ten Canadian and international films that focus on the stories of survivors and human-rights activists. Other festival highlights include The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, which features interviews with Congolese soldiers who discuss the tribal motivations behind the systematic rape and torture of female civilians, and Presumed Guilty, which offers a glimpse of the Mexican court and prison systems. Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles Street West); 6:30 p.m.; opening night gala $100 (screening only $7.08–11.56), other screenings $6.45–10.90).
TALK: ArtStars*, one of Torontoist’s newest partners, is harnessing the power of daytime talk-show drama in Whitney On Oprah: ArtStars* vs. The Art Fag, hosted by Nadja Sayej. The infamous self-published zine author and anonymous art critic, The Art Fag, will unveil his balaclava-covered face to discuss his controversial art reviews and forthcoming anthology in the second talk of the Snorefest series. Be sure to stick around after the chat for a dance party featuring entertainment by ArtStars* art director and artist Jeremy Bailey, Derek Mainella, Kevin Ritchie, and DJ Vaneska. Wrongbar (1279 Queen Street West), 8 p.m., $5.