news
Urban Planner: May 20, 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].
James Franco and Aaron Tveit star in Howl, which opens the twentieth annual Inside Out film festival tonight.
FILM: As you’ve probably read, the Toronto Underground Cinema opened last week to much fanfare. Tonight, to kick off the harvest season, the cinema and Not Far From the Tree will screen Agnès Varda’s acclaimed 2000 documentary The Gleaners and I, a beautiful film that follows a number of gleaners (those who collect leftover crops after harvest) in the French countryside. After the screening, mingle with guests while sipping a specialty drink, The Gleaner, prepared by Jamie Kennedy Kitchens’ Chef Sharon Bergey and made from the syrup of a Torontonian elderberry tree. Toronto Underground Cinema (186 Spadina Avenue); doors at 6:30 p.m., screening at 7:30 p.m.; $15.
WORDS: Tonight, Diaspora Dialogues launches the fifth installment of its anthology series TOK: Writing the New Toronto at the Appel Salon. Since the first edition was published in 2006, the series has featured poetry and short fiction set in contemporary Toronto and focusing on the city’s cultural diversity. Tonight’s event will include readings and a lively panel discussion from some of the series’ most beloved contributors, including Shyam Selvadurai, Emma Donoghue, and Marjorie Chan. Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street), 7:30 p.m., FREE.
FILM: Another day, another film festival. This time it’s Inside Out, a fest committed to promoting films made by, about, or for the LGBT community, returning for its twentieth anniversary between today and May 30. The fun kicks off tonight with the Canadian premiere of Howl, a biopic of Allen Ginsberg (portrayed by James Franco). The film was written and directed by Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein, best known for their 1995 documentary, The Celluloid Closet. A gala party follows the screening, featuring a performance by Boylesque TO. Screening at Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles Street West), gala at Bata Shoe Museum (327 Bloor Street West); 8 p.m.; $15–$25.
SALON: Intellectual gatherings of days past were often staid, stuffy affairs, but the folks at Steel Bananas are taking the yawn out of salon. The Artichoke Revue is a series of salons for the post–post-modernist crowd, and the first of three planned editions takes place tonight. Performers include vaudeville revival duo Bain & Bernard, TransCanadada motorWAY, Gravity Wave, The Body Electric, and DJ Ghaleon. If drama, music, and comedy aren’t enough to get you, Steel Bananas promises that hors d’oeuvres will be served. Bread & Circus (299 Augusta Avenue); doors at 9 p.m., performances at 10 p.m.; $5.