Early this week the Toronto International Film Festival announced details for some of this year’s gala and special presentations that will appear at the annual event in September. During the press conference, TIFF CEO and director Piers Handling, and festival co-director Cameron Bailey also revealed details for the opening night film, which ended up being a big surprise for long-time festival fans.

Roll out the red carpets, film lovers around the world are going to get an invitation to Toronto this year. That’s thanks to a $3 million grant from the Government of Canada to help promote the 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival.

Toronto’s wet and rainy summer is drawing to a close as September draws near, but there’s one last hurrah to be had as the Canadian National Exhibition rolls into town from Friday, August 15 to September 1.

Wakestock takes over the Toronto Islands this weekend for one of the biggest sporting and music events of the year. Combining wakeboarding, skateboarding, freestyle moto-x, parties, bands, and a bikini contest, the competition and festival is likely to draw huge crowds once again for the eleventh annual event.

Paul Gross‘ epic war drama Passchendaele has been named as the opening film for the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival, which is set to open on September 4. The film was written, directed, and produced by Gross, who also stars in the film as Sgt. Michael Dunne.

Canadian pop-rockers Hedley have an early lead for the 19th Annual MuchMusic Video Awards, claiming a total of six nominations for their radio hits, “For The Nights I Can’t Remember”, and “She’s So Sorry”. The band, which is fronted by Canadian Idol finalist Jacob Hoggard, has been a perennial fan favorite at both the Juno Awards and MMVAs, but are going to have to wait until Sunday, June 15 to find out if they can take home any hardware.

Forget about the capes, the tights, and the aliens from other planets. This Friday, May 2 a real hero arrives in theatres, and his name is Iron Man.

Born in the pages of Marvel comics in the early 1960s, Iron Man has been slightly reimagined for the modern day, and stars Robert Downey Jr. as wealthy inventor Tony Stark.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival announced great news for horror film fanatics: this year’s festival is set to run for a total of 8 nights, between October 17 to 24. That’s up one day from 2007, when the event packed in over 6,500 fans.

The 2008 edition of Canadian Music Week is already under way, but the real action doesn’t get rolling until tonight when clubs across the city open their doors for three nights of music. All told, there are over 500 artists participating in this year’s CMW, playing at 40 venues across the city.

The Revue Cinema on Roncesvalles Avenue in Toronto is hosting a bloody special Halloween night at the movies, and you’re invited.