fu-GEN's 9th Annual Potluck Festival

The fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company presents their 9th Annual Potluck Festival tonight. The evening is always a sold-out event in which participants in fu-GEN's Playwright's Kitchen present staged readings of their short plays or excerpts of longer works-in-progress.

This year, they have both emerging playwrights as well as more established and experienced theatre writers Leon Aureus, Marjorie Chan, Lisa Li, and Elyne Quan. Participating actors are drawn from Toronto's wealth of talented Asian actors. The performances will make use of the building's entire space. Then after the show, there will be a reception with food by fu-GEN and the Playwright's Kitchen participants.

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.

2012 Canadian Comedy Awards – nominations

The Canadian Comedy Awards Foundation in association with The Comedy Network are pleased to announce the nominees for the 2012 Canadian Comedy Awards (CCAs). This year's "beaver" statuettes will be handed out in a live awards show Aug. 26 at the Fairmont Royal York, capping off Canadian Comedy Awards & Festival Week (Aug. 23-26).

Leading the pack is French Immersion, nominated in all five film categories (Direction, Writing, Male Performance, Female Performance, and Best Film), and Michael: Tuesdays & Thursdays, with seven television nominations.

Members of Picnicface collectively earned six nominations, for their television series Picnicface and for the feature film Rollertown.

The Debaters earned four nominations across both television (Best Television Show, Best Taped Live Performance) and radio (Best Radio Program or Clip) categories.

Toronto Russian Film Festival 2012, June 7-12

The 3rd annual Toronto Russian Film Festival begins tonight with a screening of Бедуин (Bedouin) by Игорь Волошин (Igor Voloshin). The director will be in attendance.

The will be screening an interesting selection of films including many award-winners at the Кинопремия Ника (Nika Awards) and the премия Золотой Орёл (Golden Eagle Awards). There will also be a program dedicated to Russian-Canadian filmmakers including Elizabeth Lazebnik and Nika Belyanina.

In addition to screenings, there will be industry events such as a Master Class with Slava Ross (Director, Siberia Monamour) on Saturday, June 9, 11:00 a.m.; a Round Table: Discussion with Irina Pavlova (Moscow International Film Festival) on Monday, June 11, 1:00 p.m.; and a Round Table on Co-producing with Russia on Monday, June 11, 3:30 p.m.

Les FrancoFolies de Montréal, June 7-16

The 24th annual edition of Les FrancoFolies de Montréal begins today and continues for the next 10 days. Tonight's performers include Pierre Lapointe with Daran, Dyonisos and Les Revenants, and the École nationale de la chanson.

Other featured performers to look forward to include Ariane Moffatt, Malajube, Radio Radio, Catherine Major, Chinatown and Philippe B.

The FrancoFolies is a popular music festival that primarily features French language artists or performers from Francophone countries. Musical styles include rock, pop, chanson, hip-hop, rai, folk and punk. There will be nearly 70 indoor shows and 180 free outdoor concerts at or near the Quartier des Spectacles with a rich diversity and energy.

Toronto Japanese Film Festival, June 7-21

The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and Shiseido (Canada) Inc. kick off the inaugural Toronto Japanese Film Festival (TJFF) tonight. The festival is a two week showcase of the best of Japanese contemporary cinema in Toronto. With the support of Alliance Films Inc., TJFF connects Toronto audiences, Japanese filmmakers, industry professionals and supporters.

The opening night film is the award-winning 八日目の蝉 (Rebirth) by 成島出 (Narushima Izuru). It recently swept the Japan Academy Prizes with ten awards including Picture of the Year and awards for Director, Screenplay and Lead Actress 井上真央 (Inoue Mao).

Proceeds go to the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre’s Japan Earthquake Relief Fund which has already raised over $1.5 million.

2012 Dora Mavor Moore Awards – nominations

At a press conference held June 5 at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 169 nominations for 212 eligible productions that opened between June 1, 2011 and May 22, 2012 for the 33rd annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards which honour excellence in the performing arts in Toronto.

For the 2011-2012 season, 116 producing companies registered eligible productions. A total of 35 Dora Awards plus the Silver Ticket Award, the Pauline McGibbon Award and the Audience Choice Award will be given out in a glittering ceremony hosted by Thom Allison on Monday, June 25 at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in the Bluma Appel Theatre.

In the General Theatre Production Division, Tarragon Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille tie for the overall lead with 8 nods each. Passe Muraille’s Crash and Nightwood Theatre’s The Penelopiad tie for top production with 6 nominations each, followed by 4 each for The Golden Dragon (Tarragon), Topdog Underdog (Obsidian TheatreCompany in association with the Shaw Festival) and WAR HORSE (Bob Boyett, Tim Levy, National Theatre of Great Britain, David Mirvish).

2012 Worldwide Short Film Festival, June 5-10

The 18th annual CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival officially gets under way tonight with a gala screening of award-winning shorts from around the world. The screening starts at 7pm at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema and includes Luminaris, Dripped, Armadingen, Grandmothers, Trotteur, The Fisherman and The Elaborate End Of Robert Ebb. If you miss this screening tonight, it repeats on Sunday night at 9:30pm.

The festival continues to Sunday with a wide range of screenings featuring 244 films from 35 countries. 207 of the films are premieres, including 38 World Premieres. Screenings take place at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema and the Isabel Bader Theatre as well as special screenings at the CN Tower and at The Garrison.

Nastri d'argento 2012 (Silver Ribbons for Italian film) – nominations

Today, the Sindacato Nazionale dei Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani (Association of Italian Film Critics) announced the nominations for their 66th Nastro d'Argento (Silver Ribbon) Awards.

Leading with nine nominations each were Marco Tullio Giordana's Romanzo di una strage (Story of a Massacre) and Ferzan Ozpetek's Magnifica presenza (Magnificent Presence). Both films were nominated for Best Director and several acting prizes.

The other films nominated for Best Director were Emanuele Crialese for Terraferma, Paolo Sorrentino for This must be the place and Daniele Vicari for Diaz (Diaz - Don't Clean Up This Blood).

The previously announced winner for Film of the Year was Cesare deve morire (Caesar Must Die) by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. It won the Golden Bear at Berlin in February and took five prizes including the top three awards at the 2012 David di Donatello Awards.

Free concerts by Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, June 4-16

The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra kicks off their free series of concerts tonight, the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Festival. Tonight's concert is at their home, the Trinity-St. Paul's Centre at 427 Bloor Street West.

Each concert is first-come, first-served with no tickets required except for the Grand Finale which is still free but requires ticketing due to the high demand. The tickets will be made available on on Monday, June 11, 10am at the Tafelmusik Box Office at 427 Bloor Street West.

Tafelmusik is one of the world's leading orchestra's in period performance style. They perform on older instruments or recreations with gut strings and the lower tuning used in earlier times. They tend to avoid overly slow tempi, excessive vibrato, large numbers of players, and other approaches that became standard practice during the 19th century Romantic period.

2012 Montreal Fringe Festival, June 4-24

Tonight, the 22nd edition of Le Festival St-Ambroise Fringe Montréal (St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival) with a FRINGE-For-All Festival Launch at Café Campus starting at 7pm. Fringe artists will have 2 minutes or less to take the stage to show you what they’ve got. Get a first taste of what’s coming your way to this year's festival!

The Montréal Fringe Festival is a celebration of independent theatre, dance and music. The festival features around 100 companies from Montréal, Canada and the world who, combined, give over 700 performances. There's plenty for you to choose from, with activities running from noon until midnight at a dozen indoor venues, an outdoor stage and a beer tent.

2012 Drama Desk Awards – winners

The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony took place Sunday night at The Town Hall in Manhattan hosted by Brian d'Arcy James and Brooke Shields. The Drama Desk Awards are the only major New York theatre awards where Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions compete directly against each other.

The musical Once adapted from the 2006 Irish film was the evening's top prizewinner. In addition to Outstanding Musical, its four awards included Outstanding Director of a Musical (John Tiffany), Lyrics and Orchestrations. It has won Best Musical at several other awards shows and is a favourite at the upcoming Tony Awards where it leads with eleven nominations.

Death of a Salesman, One Man, Two Guvnors and Nice Work You Can Get It each followed with three awards apiece. Death of a Salesman starring Philip Seymour Hoffman won for Outstanding Revival of a Play as well as Director (Mike Nichols) and Lighting Design. One Man, Two Guvnors scooped trophies for actors James Corden and Tom Edden, as well as Outstanding Music in a Play. Nice Work You Can Get It also won acting prizes for Michael McGrath and Judy Kaye to go with Outstanding Book of a Musical.

2012 MTV Movie Awards – winners

The 21st Annual MTV Movie Awards ceremony took place tonight at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. Russell Brand was the host of the event.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 was named the Movie of the Year. Its stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart given the award Best Kiss for the fourth year in a row.

The Hunger Games, however, garnered more awards with four. Its stars Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence won Best Male Performance and Best Female Performance respectively. Along with Alexander Ludwig, they won Best Fight, while Best On-Screen Transformation went to Elizabeth Banks.

2012 Guy's Choice Awards – winners

Spike TV's 6th annual Guys Choice Awards ceremony was held on Saturday night at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California.

Brad Pitt won the Guy of the Year Award. Other actors winning prizes included Liam Neeson, Mark Wahlberg, Matthew McConaughey and Will Ferrell who won both Comedy MVP and the Guy Movie Hall of Fame award which he shared with Old School director Todd Phillips and co-stars Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson. Louis C.K. lost out to both Brad Pitt and Will Ferrell.

Prizewinning actresses included Scarlett Johansson, Emma Stone, Kate Beckinsale and Zooey Deschanel. 30 Rock creator and star Tina Fey was a winner for Outstanding Literary Achievement with her book “Bossypants”. Strangely, her competition in that category was Dick Cheney with “In My Time”.

2012 GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco – winners

The last of three Media Awards evenings held by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation took place last night in San Francisco. The 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards recognized media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives.

The main winner last night was Shonda Rhimes, who was presented the Golden Gate Award by Kerry Washington, Guillermo Diaz and Katie Lowes. She also accepted the Outstanding Drama Series prize for her show Grey's Anatomy.

Corporate awards were given to Wells Fargo and Facebook – surely good news for the latter as their stock price has been tumbling ever since opening on the stock market. Founder Mark Zuckerberg was not on hand to accept the award, which was presented to representatives Andrew Noyes and Sara Sperling.