Sat.01/Oct: Nuit Blanche at Lightbox

Toronto's Nuit Blanche, an annual sunset-to-sunrise celebration of contemporary art, returns tonight — and there are a few events taking place at the Lightbox centre:

Man with a Movie Camera

A live digital re-scoring of filmmaker Dziga Vertov's documentary, Man with a Movie Camera.

Local artist Darren Copeland will set the everyday soundscape of Toronto in 2011 against Vertov's depiction of Moscow in 1929. Copeland creates a new perspective on the sounds of our city: allowing the audience to re-experience Toronto through the ears and imagination of Dziga Vertov.

Chiptunes Orchestra



The 'Royal Canadian Chiptunes Orchestra' (a collection of musicians playing on custom-hacked Game Boys and home-made circuit-based instruments) present an evening celebrating the music of the video game.

As well, musical groups will present their interpretations of iconic video game songs and scores. Performances by: Battle Lava, Deadbeatblast, .exe, Radius and Helena, Oxvylu, Cybernetic Orchestra, Freque, Awesome Force, Jeff the World, Starpilot, Tetris Hold'em, bossFYTE, DJ Finish Him, Press Start 2 Play, and Spell 'n Math.

Singin' in the Dark: '80s Edition

Favourite musical numbers from '80s films like Fame, Footloose, Little Shop of Horrors, Flashdance and more.

(Mature content after midnight.)

Movie Studio Playhouse

Movie Studio Playhouse takes live feeds of participants acting in spontaneously-created films and enables the audience to manipulate these feeds in a number of different playful ways.

Get involved by using fun props and costumes to make a short film that will be projected on the atrium wall. Audience members watching in the atrium are encouraged to play the role of post-production trickster, tinkering with, manipulating and re-arranging the moving images.

See you at Lightbox!
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FREE films this summer

The film festival's Lightbox centre will be hosting several free film screenings this summer — and running a weekly outdoor film series, beside Roy Thomson Hall.

The Free Screen
Wed.01/Jun @ 7:00pm
— Independent/avant-garde cinema

• The Perlin Papers (cycle of 8 short films) – Jenny Perlin
  
  

Canada Day
Fri.01/Jul
— Celebration of Canadian cinema

• Mary Pickford, The Muse of the Movies (@11:00am, feature-length documentary)
  After the screening, both Nicholas Eliopoulos (director) and Rob Brooks (who donated the materials for the Mary Pickford exhibition) will be in the Canadian Film Gallery, on the 4th floor.
  
  
• Classic Canadian Shorts (@1:30pm)
  
  • Blinkity Blank – Norman McLaren
  • Romance of Transportation in Canada – Colin Low
  • Walking – Ryan Larkin
  • Log Driver’s Waltz – John Weldon
  • The Sweater – Sheldon Cohen
  • Crac! – Frederic Back
  • The Big Snit – Richard Condie
  • The Cat Came Back – Cordell Barker
    
    
• C.R.A.Z.Y. – Jean-Marc Vallée (@4:00pm)
  
• Voulez-vous coucher avec God? – Jack Christie, Michael Hirsh (@7:30pm)
  
• Black Christmas – Bob Clark (@9:30pm)
  
  

Classic Musicals in the Park
Wednesdays
— Outdoor screenings in David Pecaut Square (formerly Metro Square)

• Wed.06/Jul @ 9:00pm, The Wizard of Oz
• Wed.13/Jul @ 9:00pm, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
• Wed.20/Jul @ 9:00pm, Funny Girl
• Wed.27/Jul @ 9:00pm, The Sound of Music
• Wed.03/Aug @ 8:30pm, Jagte Raho
• Wed.10/Aug @ 8:30pm, Fiddler on the Roof
• Wed.17/Aug @ 8:30pm, Singin’ in the Rain
• Wed.24/Aug @ 8:30pm, The Muppet Movie
• Wed.31/Aug @ 8:30pm, Mary Poppins
  

See you at the fest!
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Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.3

Festival Tower, the residential condominium built atop the Lightbox centre, is almost complete. It's the final component of Reitman Square at King & John streets — a three-way partnership between the festival, the Reitman's, and Daniels.

Lightbox (the film festival's new headquarters) and Oliver & Bonacini's new restaurants (Luma, O&B Canteen) opened last summer during the film-festival.

Occupancy in Festival Tower began last fall,

• see Above Lightbox: Festival Tower for a preview of the suites;

amenity areas started to take shape this past winter,

• see Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.2 for a tour of the construction.

As the building will soon be turned over to the purchasers, we're very grateful for Daniels allowing us a follow-up photo-shoot — most of the amenity spaces are now finished, so here are the snapshots!

Lobby lounge
The Fantasm, an art installation by New Brunswick sculptor Peter Powing; located in the lobby lounge, but the animated lighting easily visible from the outside sidewalk.
Tower lounge
Also has an outdoor terrace – adjacent to the rooftop patio of the Lightbox film centre.

Sports bar
The balcony overlooks the Casa Malaparte inspired roof-top of Lightbox.Cinema
Theatre has room for 66 – with the same Quinette Gallay cinema-seating, and Christie digital cinema projection used in the theatres at Lightbox.Party room
Decor for the building was handled by Mike Niven Interior Design – with furnishings from Kiosk Design.
Roof-top terrace
Fitness areas

The fitness areas are operated by Results Fitness Lifestyle – scheduled classes include pilates, yoga, spinning, and vary each month. Personal training sessions are also offered.

Spa
Spa services in the building are provided by Family Tree Health Clinic – registered massage therapists available, and osteopathic care coming soon.

Concierge
A full-time resident services director is provided by Zebrano life|style|solutions.

Festival Tower

Just like the Lightbox centre at it's base, Festival Tower was designed by KPMB and built by Daniels — and both buildings are equally impressive, in design and construction. In fact, they were recently nominated for the 2011 PUG awards – the people's choice award for architecture.

There are still a few units for sale through Baker Real Estate at the FestivalTower.com website – and rentals & re-sales can be found at http://bit.ly/FestTwrMLS.

The sequel: Cinema Tower

Daniels has already begun construction on the sequel to Festival Tower: Cinema Tower. Sales will be handled by Baker Real Estate (– the presentation centre had it's final touches just recently).

The 43 story building was designed by Kirkor Architects (– they provided KPMB with design support for Festival Tower), and the interior design is by HOK.

The UrbanToronto.ca forum has posted several snapshots of the construction site, and the Toronto Star featured Another condo blockbuster — a spotlight on Cinema Tower (May 28/2011).

The official website is CinemaTowerCondos.com — you can follow @Cinema_Tower on Twitter.

...and that's a wrap... ;-)

see you at the fest! :-)
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PS.
Special thanks to everyone at Daniels who helped us make arrangements – Niall, Simona, and Jake – plus Aurora at Zebrano, for taking us on the tour! ;-)

PPS.
UPDATE: On Jun.6/2011, Toronto Star's Condos on the Market featured the Toronto's downtown west neighbourhood; locations & prices of all new residential buildings in the area are listed, including Festival Tower.

UPDATE: Site Seeing Downtown West appeared in the Aug.27/2011 Saturday Star.

FREE film Wednesdays at Lightbox

Although the free Family Day weekend has just passed, there are more free screenings – part of a series of short avant-garde films – coming up at the Lightbox centre:

• Wednesday, 23rd of February @ 7pm
  Keeping Trace — On Time and Film
  
  • Pro Agri, Nicky Hamlyn [Great Britain, 2008, 3 min, 16mm]
  • Les Chaises, Vincent Grenier [Canada, 2008, 8 min, HD]
  • August Afternoons, Deanna Morse [USA, 1985, 5 min, 16mm]
    
  • She is Away, Bruce Elder [Canada, 1976, 13 min, 16mm]
  • Tamalpais, Chris Kennedy [Canada, 2009, 14 min, 16mm]
  • Lacuna, Shannon Harris [Canada, 2008, 10 min, DV]
  • Transitions, Barbara Sternberg [Canada, 1982, 11 min, 16mm]
  Presented by the Canadian Film Makers Distribution Centre.
  
  
• Wednesday, 9th of March @ 7pm
  Mantler’s Visual Music
  • Introduction by Chris Cummings
  • Allegretto, Oskar Fischinger [USA 1936, 3 min, 35mm]
  • Motion Painting No. 1, Oskar Fischinger [USA, 1947, 11 min, 35mm]
  • Trade Tattoo, Len Lye [USA,1937, 5 min, 16mm]
  • Rhythm, Len Lye [USA, 1957, 1 min, 16mm]
  • Free Radicals, Len Lye [USA 1958, 4 min, 16mm
  • Synchromy, Norman McLaren [Canada, 1971, 7 min, 35mm]
  • Lines Horizontal, Norman McLaren & Evelyn Lambart [Canada, 1961, 6 min, 35mm]
  • Gymnopedies, Larry Jordan [USA, 1965, 6 min, 16mm]
  • Friendly Witness, Warren Sonbert [USA, 1989, 22 min, 16mm]
  • When the Organ Played ‘Oh Promise Me’, Cecil Stokes [c.1940, 3 min, 16mm]
  • 15-minute live musical performance by Mantler
    
  Presented by The Music Gallery.
  
  
• Wednesday, 23rd of March @ 7pm
  Images of Nature, or The Nature of the Image
  
  • Light Magic, Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof [Canada, 2001, 3 min, 16mm]
  • View of the Falls from the Canadian Side, John Price [Canada, 2006, 7 min, 35mm]
  • Migration, David Rimmer [Canada, 1969, 11 min, 16mm]
  • Notes in Origin, Ellie Epp [Canada, 1987, 17 min, 16mm]
  • Plein Air, Richard Kerr [Canada, 1991, 20 min, 16mm]
  • Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis, Daïchi Saïto [Canada, 2009, 10 min, 35mm]
  • Beauty Plus Pity, Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby [Canada, 2009, 14 min, video]
    
  Presented by the Canadian Film Makers Distribution Centre.
  
  
• Wednesday, 30th of March @ 7pm
  Landscape as Expression — San Francisco Bay Area
  • A Trip Down Market Street, Miles Brothers [USA, 1906, 12 min, Silent, 35mm]
  • North Beach, Dion Vigne [USA, 1958, 5 min, 16mm]
  • Visions of a City, Lawrence Jordan [USA, 1957-78, 8 min]
  • All My Life, Bruce Baillie [USA, 1966, 3 min]
  • Golden Gate Bridge Exposure: Poised for Parabolas, Lynn Marie Kirby [USA, 2004, 5 min, Silent, DV]
  • Junkopia, Chris Marker [USA, 1981, 6 min, 35mm]
  • Street Noise, Michael Glawogger [USA, 1981, 9 min, 16mm]
  • Degrees of Limitation, Scott Stark [USA, 1982, 3 min, Silent, 16mm]
  • Side/Walk/Shuttle, Ernie Gehr [USA, 1991, 41 min, 16mm]
  Presented by the Images Festival.
  

See you there!
#TOfilmfest

Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.2

Festival Tower sits atop the festival's new Lightbox centre on Reitman Square at King & John — it's the residential portion of the three-way venture between the festival (cinema/galleries/work-spaces/offices), the Reitman family (land), and Daniels (developer/builder).

Although Lightbox opened during the September 2010 film festival, occupancy in Festival Tower began later in November.

[Previous posts about the building: Lightbox developments, Lightbox tour, and Lightbox tour, part 2; also O&B Canteen, Luma, and Malaparte dining spaces.]

The Urban Toronto forum was kind enough to mention our article, Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, and they have also posted snapshots of suite interiors at Festival Tower.

Last fall, we weren't able to see any of the residential amenities — tentatively scheduled for completion this spring — but we recently took a tour of some of the common areas now under construction...

Tower entrance

Tower cinema

Tower pool/fitness room


...and some views...

East

South

West


Night


"What's On Today"

A unique feature of Festival Tower: a flat-screen displaying the day's film schedule at Lightbox (plus opening hours for the gallery, library, studio, lounge and gift shop) — conveniently located by the elevators, on the ground-floor entrance — nice! :-)

See you at the next fest!
@TOfilmfest

PS.
Want to live at Festival Tower? – check http://bit.ly/FestTwrMLS for a list of all the suites currently for sale/rent...

...or, how about living nearby the new Lightbox centre? – look for the Condos on the Market in the Toronto Star – UPDATE: the downtown west area was featured Mar.3/2011.

PPS.
CONTINUED:
Part one of this article, Above Lightbox: Festival Tower.
Part three of this article, Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.3