Hundreds of party goers kicked off TIFF opening weekend at The Artists For Peace And Justice fundraiser

Hundreds of party goers kicked-off the opening weekend of the Toronto International Film Festival in fine style at the Artists For Peace And Justice fundraiser held at Ame. Guests mingled with the likes of Gerard Butler (in Toronto to support two films during TIFF,) Paul Haggis, Jason Reitman and Toronto’s own George Stroumboulopoulos came out to show their support of APJ and the worthy work it’s doing.

“This event was really unique,” said Haggis, Academy Award-winning director (Crash, Million Dollar Baby) and founder of APJ, which supports health, education and dignity initiatives in Haiti. “While many film festival events are restricted to film industry professionals and sponsors, this year TORO After Dark provided an opportunity for APJ to generate awareness and engage a new audience in a relaxed setting, while providing the opportunity to meet some of Hollywood’s biggest personalities.” Since 2009, events held during the Toronto film festival benefiting APJ have raised over $300,000, with a 100% of proceeds going directly to Haiti.

(Richard Budman photos) Cadillac Festival Insider SKYE is wearing designs by Stephan Caras and jewelry by Psalms 91:1 at the Artists For Peace And Justice fundraiser.

[Video] Cadillac Festival Insider gets ready for the TIFF red carpets at the gifting suites

[VIDEO] Cadillac Festival Insider got a taste of what the celebrities and VIP’s of the Toronto International Film Festival get to experience – a visit to the two top gifting suites that happen during every TIFF – The Tastemakers Lounge and the IT Lounge. The insiders came away pampered, ready for the red carpets and parties, and, with a big bag of swag!

Thank you!

Infamous street-artist Mr. Brainwash creates new installation for TIFF (Brad Pitt and Madonna are collectors)

The Toronto International Film Festival has proven the last few years to not just be about films. TIFF has shown it’s about music with attracting to the Festival some of the biggest pop acts in the world (Bruce Springsteen, U2.) The Festival has also very much shown it’s about art. In the case of the 2011 edition – TIFF is embracing a street-art style with commissioning none other than Thierry Guetta, aka Mr. Brainwash, to install works around Gala red carpets.

In celebration of the installation, Gallery One in Yorkville opens an exhibition to the public of Mr. Brainwash original works the day TIFF starts and running through to the end of the Festival (September 18th.)

The elusive street-artist Guetta even made an appearance at the private opening on September 7th. Guetta works in the same street-art style as masters in the field like Shepard Fairey – the artist behind the iconic Obama “Hope” poster, and of course, the infamous Banksy, the British star street-artist who pioneered the explosive interest in their types of works. Banksy directed the Oscar-nominated documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop last year which featured Mr. Brainwash at work.

The Gallery One exhibition is sure to attract some TIFF celebrities. Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Madonna are all known to actively collect the works of Mr. Guetta.

At the exhibition opening, prices for some of Guetta’s pieces exceeded $25,000 – and they were selling. Mr. Brainwash art has been described in the past as “throwing modern cultural icons into a blender and turning it up to eleven.”

(more…)

IT LOUNGE gifting suite at Windsor Arms Hotel plays host to TIFF celebrities and contributes to a roster of charities

The IT Lounge, hosted by NKPR at The Windsor Arms Hotel during TIFF week is proud to have broken new ground as the first gifting suite in North America to have had each participating brand contribute to a charity or cause.

A who’s who of celebrities visited the IT Lounge during the week to lend their support. For each of those visits, a special donation was made to the 12 charities. Brooks, Fila, Goody , Sharpie, Universal Music, were just some of the gifting companies contributing to the program.

Some of the many celebrity guests that visited IT Lounge: Paul Haggis, Olivia Wilde, the entire crew from So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Jason Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Sissy Spacek, Saukrates, James Purefoy, Divine Brown, Kat Dennings, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Jennifer Garner, Russell Peters, Kyle MacLaghlan, Ivana Santilli, Marci Playground, Edward Norton, Ricky Gervais, Kardinal Offishal, Samantha Morton, Kristin Booth, Colin Mochrie, Deb McGrath, Eva Avilla, Lyriq Bent, Monika Schnarre, Caitlin Cronenberg, Lisa Ray, Verne “Mini-Me” Troyer, Terry Gilliam and many, many more!

Kerry Washington and Naomi Watts celebrate Mother and Child with a few TIFF party stops

(festivalinsider.ca) KERRY WASHINGTON and NAOMI WATTS attended the party for Mother And Child at Swarovski crystal store on Bloor Street prior to their Gala TIFF screening. Watts and Washington continued the celebrating after their premiere stopping by a party at The Gardiner Museum for designer turned director Tom Ford’s A Single Man

A very dapper BEN BARNES at the ROOTS party for the film PASSION PLAY

(festivalinsider.ca) A very dapper looking BEN BARNES attends a pre-screening party at the ROOTS store on Bloor St. The very hot Barnes (fresh off the success of leading The Chronicles of Narnia) is visiting TIFF in support of DORIAN GRAY. Also showing up at the Roots event was Megan FOX and Michael CAINE. The Roots event was actually for a film not playing TIFF, PASSION PLAY – a soon-to-be-released film starring Fox.

Jennifer’s Body star MEGAN FOX and BRIAN AUSTIN GREEN arrive early in Toronto – the weekend BEFORE TIFF starts

Arriving early for TIFF? Jennifer’s Body star Megan Fox and boyfriend Brian Austin Green are in Toronto this weekend. The couple paid a visit to Holt Renfrew on Bloor St. and strolled Yorkville ave. on Friday. Probably a smart thing for the couple to do now. By next weekend, Yorkville will come alive with the Toronto Film Festival and the relatively unnoticed walk the couple made yesterday, will be impossible.