The 10th anniversary of La Fête des vins du Québec, Nov 27-29

The 10th anniversary of the Fête des Vins du Québec launched yesterday at the Marché Bonsecours in Old Montreal. The day began with an awards presentation to Quebec's winemakers and sommeliers. The list of lauréats is provided below.

The event presents thirty vineyards arranged in five wine regions: Eastern Townships, Lanaudière, Est-du-Québec, Basses-Laurentides and Montérégie. There is a section devoted to regional, artisanal cheese. You can meet vintners and learn all about the wines and cheeses of Québec, from the production process through appellations and origins and wine-and-cheese pairing. Aficionados can enjoy making new discoveries through workshops, talks and tasting sessions.

There is also a room with a range of other food products such as charcuterie, jams, spreads, balsamic vinegar, and chocolates. The quality of the food offered is excellent. Products may be purchased on site.

The 5th edition of La Grande Dégustation de Montréal

The curtain came down Saturday evening on the fifth edition of La Grande Dégustation de Montréal, which took place November 5, 6 and 7 at Place Bonaventure, Montreal. This year’s event marks an important milestone in what has become Quebec’s premier wine event. Presented by the Association québécoise des agences de vins, bières et spiritueux and the Société des alcools du Québec, La Grande Dégustation de Montréal welcomed more than 13,000 visitors over three days. This represents an increase of almost 11% compared to last year. This year’s edition of La Grande Dégustation de Montréal brought togethernearly 200 producers who showcased some 1,200 products.

“We are thrilled with the public’s growing interest in La Grande Dégustation de Montréal. We can see the emergence of a growing crowd of well-informed youth who are very curious about wine,”states Daniel Richard, President of La Grande Dégustation de Montréal. “With such a wide selection, private imports and events enjoyed by beer, wine and spirits enthusiasts, we welcome this success as a driving force for editions to come.”

Festival Accès Asie, May 1 – 24

20 
years 
of 
Asia 
in 
Montréal!

Festival Accès Asie, running from May 1st to 24th, is proud to announce its 20th Anniversary edition! Khosro Berahmandi, General Manager and Artistic Director of the Festival, has prepared an incredible program featuring a wide range of artistic disciplines that will definitely please Asian culture lovers. Festival Accès Asie welcomes actress, Alice Tran (Lance et compte, 30 vies), as its spokesperson for our 20th anniversary celebration.

Included in this edition are 16 artistic events, many of which have been exclusively created for the Festival. To show its appreciation to Accès Asie artist members for their ongoing commitment to the development of the Festival over the years, five artists from the Festival’s Board were invited to create works for this year’s edition. We are very pleased to include these works in our 20th Anniversary program.

The Festival kicks off with our famous Opening Cocktail at which we will reveal the 20th Anniversary Edition program. The first week will feature Kaleidoscope, an exhibition by Kiran Ambwani and Florence So, presenting 20 artists who have appeared in the Festival over the past 20 years. The Festival also invites the public to take part in an open forum Discussion on Asian Heritage in Quebec featuring an exciting panel of Festival artists.

TIFF's Food on Film fuses culinary experts and brilliant cinema

Guests include Wylie Dufresne, Chad Robertson and Vikram Vij
March 11 to June 24 at TIFF Bell Lightbox

Back for its fourth season, TIFF’s popular subscription series Food on Film brings together chefs, food experts and film lovers to enjoy the best of culinary cinema and conversation. Each month, series host Matt Galloway (CBC’s Metro Morning) welcomes celebrated guests from the culinary world to discuss topical and timely food themes, and to explore the intersections of cinema, culture and gastronomy. Launching March 11, the series presents six events that each feature a screening followed by a fascinating and lively discussion.

Food on Film screenings will take place Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. The first 150 subscribers receive a $50 gift card to Momofuku Toronto and a one year print subscription to Toronto Life magazine.

Niagara Integrated Film Festival (NIFF) unveils full program for inaugural year

The inaugural Niagara Integrated Film Festival (NIFF) is only a few weeks away! The hugely anticipated event from Toronto International Film Festival co-founder, Bill Marshall, runs June 19 through 22, 2014.

Highlighting the world-class epicurean wonders of Niagara, NIFF will take full advantage of its unique location with two special programs. Film Feast is a gourmet wine tour meets short film festival mash-up where fine wines and hors d’oeuvres are enjoyed with a short film from Canada’s Not Short on Talent program. Filmalicious is a sublime dinner and a movie experience, where guests will enjoy a luscious three-course-meal, accompanied by a top selection of wines, and finished off with a stellar feature film, at one of the Region’s top wineries.

At the same time, NIFF aims to shine a cinematic spotlight not only on Niagara’s extraordinary beauty, but also on the remarkable talent that comes from this part of Canada. In Niagara Rises, a special program showcasing home-grown Niagara filmmakers, St. Catharines' own Mike Enns kicks it off with the world premiere of Restrung, NIFF's opening night film.

Inaugural Niagara Integrated Film Festival to take place June 19-22, 2014

Peter Sellers’ worked with Mordecai Richler? See it and believe it.
The Vault to Lost Film Treasures is Opened As Toronto Film Fest Founder
Bill Marshall turns Niagara Region into Summer Cinema Central

(photos by Allan Tong)

They once were lost, but now they’re found. And the inaugural Niagara Integrated Film Festival has them! The hugely-anticipated event from Toronto International Film Festival founder, Bill Marshall, kicks off June 19-22 with some incredible recently-uncovered featured programs.

Among them: two short films from the ‘50s – a combination of sketch-comedy and sitcom - starring a pre-Pink Panther Peter Sellers and written by Canada’s Mordecai Richler, and one of the earliest silent films with Mary Pickford, the Canadian-born “America’s Sweetheart.”

2014 Montréal en lumière (Montreal High Lights), Feb 20–Mar 2

MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE, presented by RBC in collaboration with Bell, celebrates its 15th edition this year—and how! With MEL already enjoying a dazzling surge of growth, especially with the return of its outdoor downtown site in the Quartier des Spectacles—MEL crowds have bounded by over 40% to surpass 1,300,000 visits!—our festival has everything required to welcome even more fans this year.

You’ll especially feel all the excitement on the festival’s free outdoor site, an entirely renovated location offering a record number of free activities, building bridges between its diverse programs and offering an unprecedented spotlight and profile to the chefs of Montreal! You’ll also discover top-calibre major free outdoor performances, DJ and VJ sets, the most popular urban slide in the city, the giant winter ferris wheel and impressively mind-blowing lighting effects to name but a few, along with the special grand event on the first Saturday of the festival, as well as all the delicious Gourmet Pit-Stops that allow everyone to kick off the celebration as soon as work or school ends and sustain themselves through another fun night.

2013 UofT Film Festival, April 1

The 11th annual University of Toronto (UofT) Film Festival takes place tonight and screens some of the best shorts and student films around. The event includes a reception and is free.

Films being screened include a modest short that I co-directed with Faisal Lutchmedial called Four Paws. It stars Joslyn Rogers and myself. Also screening will be three animated shorts by Toronto-based animator Nick Fox-Gieg – The Orange, Interregnum and the evening's finale More Than Winning.

2013 Montréal en Lumière, Feb 21-Mar 3

The 14th Montréal en Lumière kicks off tonight at the Quartier des Spectacles. The festival is a broad-ranging affair with shows and concerts of all kinds as well as fine dining and drinks. The opening show at Théâtre Maisonneuve will be La Pista Tango and blends circus arts, tango and illustration.

Featured concerts include Alain Lefèvre, Diana Krall and The Zombies. The food spotlights will be on Buenos Aires, Philadelphia and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, with Argentinean chef Francis Mallmann as honourary president. As always, there will be many free activities and events. The festival draws to a close with the annual Nuit blanche.

Luminato 6, June 8-17

The sixth edition of Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity beings today with a number of exciting events including Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass and La Belle et la Bête: A Contemporary Retelling. The festival is encompasses a wide spectrum of artistic disciplines and activities including music, theatre, visual arts, literature, film, magic, food and dance.

One of the highlight's of the festival will be a marathon performance by Stewart Goodyear of all 32 of the Beethoven piano sonatas in an 11-hour period. There will also be free concerts every day at David Pecaut Square, starting on Friday, June 9 with K'naan and Kae Sun. Other free shows will include Rufus Wainwright, Loreena McKennitt, Calypso Rose, Fatoumata Diawara, Dan Mangan and Kevin Fox. The closing concert at David Pecaut Square will be the Toronto Symphony Orchestra performing works including a new piece by Philip Glass and Tchaikowsky's 1812 Overture for the 200th Anniversary of that war.

Montreal en lumière, February 16-26

Today is the start of the 13th edition of Montreal en lumière, the 11-day festival that features hundreds of gastronomic and wine tasting activities, shows, exhibits, concerts and a free outdoor illuminated site.

The last few years had been staged at Old Montreal, but this year brings a return to the Quartier des spectacles with a new outdoor site with numerous activities, installations and splashy uses of illumination. They will also be bringing the fine dining experience outdoors with a number of stopovers with culinary offerings from this year's featured regions Wallonia and Brussels.

A major part of Montreal en lumière is the 9th edition of the Nuit blanche à Montréal, which will take place during the night of Saturday, February 25 into early Sunday, February 26. Mostly free, there are 170 activities available including museum visits, poetry, film, music, song, skating, artists' workshops, art galleries, and even winter swimming.

TIFF launches Food, Science and Books on Film series

TIFF LAUNCHES 2012 SUBSCRIPTION SERIES:
FOOD ON FILM, SCIENCE ON FILM AND BOOKS ON FILM
TIFF offers one-stop holiday shopping for all the foodies, bookworms, popular science lovers and film fans on your list

Toronto – TIFF presents three exciting subscription series launching in February 2012 that pair screenings with fascinating conversations. Food on Film, Books on Film, and Science on Film each feature six screenings with guests who use the films as a launch pad for engaging discussions and take questions from the audience. Subscriptions are on sale Monday for TIFF members and are available for non-members to purchase beginning December 8.

Food on Film

For people who love great food and entertainment, TIFF partners with Oliver and Bonacini and Food Network Canada for TIFF Bell Lightbox’s newest subscription series. Chefs, food experts and film lovers come together to enjoy the best of culinary cinema and conversation. For each installment, host Jason Bangerter, Executive Chef of Luma and O&B Canteen restaurants, welcomes guest chefs from Food Network and other experts from the culinary world to examine the intersections of great food and great films. A unique dish will be created and served at Luma before and after each event (additional charge applies) and all Food on Film subscribers will receive a recipe card for each of the dishes.

Free Event! Taiwanese Cuisine: Intimate Politics in Film

Tonight, the Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs of the University of Toronto hosts a free event. Taiwanese Cuisine: Intimate Politics in Film presents an exploration of food and film from Taiwan.

The films screening this weekend are Night Market Hero (Tien-Lun Yeh), Eat Drink Man Woman (Ang Lee) and Kuei‐mei, A Woman (Yi Chang). Speakers include Professors Scott Simon, Joseph Wong, Charlie Keil, Bart Testa, James Udden and Jing Jing Chang.

You do not have to be a student to attend. You must, however, register online in order to RSVP for the individual events. After the opening keynote lecture at North House (Room 208N) of the Munk School of Global Affairs, 1 Devonshire Place, the remaining events take place at Innis Town Hall and Innis Café, 2 Sussex Street at St. George.

Free screening of El Bulli – Cooking in Progress

Open-air RIDM screening

 Quebec premiere of El Bulli – Cooking in Progress

With sommelier and writer François Chartier

Montreal, July 18, 2011 – The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM), in collaboration with the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) and Quartier des spectacles, invites you to the Quebec premiere of El Bulli – Cooking in Progress on August 5, 2011 at 9 p.m. in place de la Paix, on Saint-Laurent Blvd. between Sainte-Catherine and René-Lévesque.

Through the eyes of German director Gereon Wetzel, the film takes us into the world of Ferran Adrià, one of the world’s most famous chefs. The film will be introduced by François Chartier, author of Taste Buds and Molecules and a flavour harmonies consultant for elBulli. A Q&A session will follow the screening.

Franco-Fête: Festival de la francophonie internationale de Toronto, June 24-26

Franco-Fête announces outstanding line-up for 29th annual festival of Francophone arts and culture

Franco-Fête, Toronto’s International Francophone Festival is proud to announce an exciting line-up for the 29th annual festival of Francophone arts and culture. From June 24 to 26, Franco-Fête is once again teaming up with Harbourfront Centre to feature the best Canadian francophonie has to offer. As the biggest event of its kind in all Toronto and Southwestern Ontario, Franco-Fête will offer FREE activities in French for all ages from kids' events and family-friendly shows to top-billed artists from Canada and around the world.

A great and rare experience, Franco-Fête aims to bring together people of all languages and backgrounds from across the GTA to celebrate Canada’s rich and diverse francophone heritage.

This year, Franco-Fête is venturing into global hot spots and will feature a Spotlight on France, featuring from Tours, French nu-soul singer Benjamin Duterde a.k.a. Ben L’Oncle Soul; from Strasbourg, the French pop, Latin group LéOparleurs; from Marseilles, folk pop rock duo Alcaz and the Parisian reggae sensation, Kyssi Wète. Franco-Fête also welcomes to Toronto Franco-New Zealanders The Mamaku Project with their Pacifica, dub-reggae and jazz stylings.

5th Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity, June 10-19

Today is the start of the 5th Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity. It's a multidisciplinary festival that includes film, music (both classical and contemporary), theatre, dance, literature, visual arts, fashion, food and design.

This year, the newly renamed David Pecaut Square at the southeast corner of King St. W. and John St. will be the Luminato Festival Hub. The square was renamed after the late co-founder of Luminato and will be where free events will take place every night, including concerts by Grammy-award winners Kronos Quartet, The Joel Plaskett Emergency, They Might Be Giants, and k.d. lang.

After receiving the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize Wednesday night at Lincoln Center in New York, the renowned Kronos Quarter begins a residency at the Luminato Festival in Toronto that includes four concerts reflecting their musical diversity. There will also be free screenings of films featuring their performances on the soundtrack, including Darren Aronofsky's excellent Requiem for a Dream.

The Canadian Stage Company's Spotlight.Italy - March 15-26

The Canadian Stage Company is launching a new Spotlight Series this year which focuses on the art and culture of a different country. This year's inaugural spotlight will be on Italy, in honour of its reunification 150 years ago.

The festival divides into four sections. The Spotlight on Contemporary Theatre will highlight 4 plays. They are La Natura Delle Cosse, Nunzio, Basso Ostinato and La Festa.

The other three spotlights are on Music, Food & Wine, and Fashion & Art. The Music spotlight features performers Dominic Mancuso, David Occhipinti, the Antonio Ciacca Trio, Vesuvius Ensemble, Roberto Occhipinti, The Sicilian Jazz Project, and Marco Calliari. The restaurants participating in the Food and Wine Spotlight are Biagio ristorante and Vecchio Frak Cafe. The Spotlight on Fashion will display work by Versace and Juliana Carlucci, while the Spotlight on Art focuses on the work of Bruno Billio.

The Canadian Stage Company's Spotlight.Italy runs from March 15-26. It takes place primarily at the Berkeley Street Theatre at 26 Berkeley Street.

12th Festival Montréal en lumière (Montreal Festival of Lights), Feb. 17-27

The 12th edition of the Festival Montréal en lumière (Montreal Festival of Lights) kicks off tonight and continues until February 27. This is an all-encompassing festival that brings a touch of excitement and culture to the dreary days of February. It celebrates music, food, performing arts and outdoor activities. It all culminates with the Nuit blanche à Montréal on February 26-27, with 175 activites that are mostly free.

This year's festival has a focus on women. Honourary co-president of the festival actress Carole Bouquet will read excerpts from Lettres à Génica, folies d’amour by Antonin Artaud. The other co-president is soprano Marie-Josée Lord, who will perform a solo recital at Théâtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts, accompanied by the Orchestre Métropolitain.

Other performers you can look forward to include Vanessa Paradis, Omara Portuondo, Lizz Wright, Emilie Simon, Béatrice Bonifassi, Ladies of the Canyon, NEeMA and Emilie-Claire Barlow.

56 of the world's top women chefs will be guest chefs at local restaurants including Honourary president Anne-Sophie Pic, the only woman chef to rate three Michelin stars. She will be at Toque!, while others include Elizabeth Falkner at DNA, Melissa Craig at Chez L'Epicier, Nathalie Beauvais at La Porte, Roberta Sudbrack at Cafe Ferreira, and Cristina Bowerman at Graziella.