• It's Victoria Day Weekend, with family events and a few fireworks celebrations planned (weather permitting!)


• HarbourKIDS: The Toronto International Circus Festival offers free family fun at Harbourfront Centre from Saturday to Monday.


• From Saturday to Monday Black Creek Pioneer Village will be bringing fairy tales to life with a "Once Upon a Time" weekend.


• The annual Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival begins today and continues until May 27th.


• The Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival continues through May.


• The Artisans at the Distillery - Spring Craft Show is on from Saturday to Monday.


• The Bata Shoe Museum is celebrating the long weekend with screenings of Puss in Boots and a related craft for kids.


• The Kids World of Energy Festival Community Day offers family activities "exploring Renewable Energy, Climate Change and the Science of Energy" at Evergreen Brick Works on Saturday.


• The Toronto Blue Jays are in town until Sunday.


• Casa Loma is holding an "Upstairs/Downstairs: Behind the Scenes Tour" on Saturday.


• Art of the Danforth begins on Sunday and continues with a variety of events until June 10th.


• The Lulaworld 2012 Music Festival at Lula Lounge continues into the weekend.


• And from the calendar of User-submitted events for May:
  • Vert Catering's Pop-up Sunday Brunches continue.
  • Bolshoi Ballet's Swan Lake is on at the Sony Centre until the 19th.
  • And there's an Inua Photo Art Exhibition on May 18th-19th.

If you're an event planner hosting something this weekend, feel free to tell us about it in the comments section below. For later events, learn how to submit an event listing to About.com: Toronto.

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Photo © Marilyn Campbell

This fall the Toronto Urban Film Festival will once again offer a wide selection of silent, sixty-second films on the Pattison Onestop screens inside TTC subway stations. Timed to coincide with the Toronto International Film Festival, TUFF 2012 will run from September 7th to September 17th. The works selected for screening during TUFF may come from across Canada or around the world, and can include works created with film, video, or animation.

Submit to TUFF

So why am I blogging about a film festival that's four months away? The Toronto Urban Film Festival is now accepting submissions! If you're interested in putting something together for this unique festival, remember that films must run exactly one minute long and can't have any sound (the TTC screens don't have audio). The special guest judge for this year's TUFF is documentary filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal (Manufactured Landscapes, Payback).

Breaking Free of Themes (and Submission Fees)

In the past, TUFF has had announced several thematic categories for submissions. This year, TUFF is instead planning to come up with programming themes after videos are reviewed. The only instruction beyond the technical specifications is that the festival is intended to appeal to an urban public so "submissions can have an urban theme, or just be of interest to an urban population" - which is pretty wide open. The final deadline to submit to TUFF 2012 is July 15th, but if you submit before May 31st you don't need to pay the regular $20 submission fee. For all of the rules and submission guidelines, visit the Toronto Urban Film Festival website.

Not interested in submitting? A visit to the TUFF website still has rewards. You can watch selections from previous years, many of which are also available through the TUFF YouTube channel.

Related Reading:
• Calendar of Toronto Film Festivals
• Share Your Opinion: Which Toronto Film Festival is the Best?

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The big Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival doesn't take place until November, but organizers still have a lot lined up this week for both sketch troupes and their fans...

Registration Opens for Sketch Com-Ageddon

For troupes who think they're up to the challenge, registration is now open for Sketch Com-Ageddon. Over five nights at Comedy Bar, 48 troupes will face off in a tournament of laughs with the winning troupe securing a spot in the November festival. This year the event runs from June 12th to 16th, but registration takes place on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you think your troupe has what it takes, read up on all the rules and regulations ASAP!
• Sketch Com-Ageddon on TorontoSketchFest.com

Sketchiest Sketch Show Fundraiser on Saturday

But what about those of us who just like to watch? During the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival one peer-nominated troupe is named "Sketchiest Sketch Troupe" and, in a newer gesture, that troupe produces and headlines a show to help raise money for the next year's award. Following the tradition, 2011 Sketchiest Sketch Troupe "Approximately 3 Peters" will be performing at Comedy Bar on May 19th, along with "Templeton Philharmonic" and "Smells Like the 80s". Tickets are $10 plus HST and are available online or at the door.
• The Sketchiest Sketch Show 2012 on TorontoSketchFest.com

Are you a Toronto sketch comedy aficionado? Have a favorite troupe the world should know about? Add a comment to spread the sketchy TO love!

Related Reading:
• Not sure what sketch is all about? Check out Comedy Watching 101.

Along with moms, migratory birds are also being celebrated this weekend. Photo © Marilyn Campbell, 2012

• Of course this Sunday is Mother's Day, so there are a number of special events on to celebrate (many centered around brunch or afternoon tea!)


• The Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival continues throughout the month.


• There are numerous events on the Green Toronto Calendar for this weekend, including today's (Thursday's) Etobicoke & Mimico Creeks Charity Golf Tournament, plus numerous events on Saturday - the annual Spring Bird Festival at Tommy Thompson Park, International Migratory Bird Day at the Toronto Zoo, an Etobicoke Creek Valley Garlic Mustard Pull, a rain barrel sale in support of Martingrove Gardens Park, and the Second Annual Toronto Park Summit.


• On Saturday, free Science Rendezvous events will be on at locations across the city (and the country!) offering hands-on activities, presentations, and challenges, all in the name of bringing science to the streets!


• This is the final weekend for the 2012 installments of both the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts and the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.


• It's a big weekend for films by and for youth -TIFF's Next Wave Festival showcases films for teens from Thursday to Saturday, while the one-day Toronto Student Film Festival is also on Saturday.
  • If you're interested in these events, you may also be interested in Film and Video Summer Camps for Kids and Teens in Toronto


• The Royal Ontario Museum offers family programming based around Ancient Egypt on Saturday and Sunday.


• The National Chinese Acrobats join the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony for two performances at the Sony Centre on Saturday.


• And from the calendar of User-submitted events for May:
  • On Thursday there's a Public Art Event and Free EcoCab rides in Yonge-Dundas Square in support of Evergreen Brick Works.
  
  
  • There's a Maritime Lobster Dinner Fundraiser for St. Felix Centre on Thursday night.
  
  
  • From Thursday to Sunday Neil LeBute's play "In A Dark Dark House" is being staged at Bathurst Street Theatre.
  
  
  • On Friday the Annex Quartet perform George Crumb's "Black Angels".
  
  
  • There's a Toronto Entrepreneurs Conference in Mississauga on Friday.
  
  
  • Parvati Devi launches her new album "YIN: Yoga in the Nightclub" on Friday.
  
  
  • On Saturday there's a Heather Hill CD Release Party at the Drake.
  
  
  • "Crash Bang Wallop - a night of indie music" is also on Saturday, as is "Oh So Beautiful - Putting the power of performance back into the hands of the musicians".
  
  
  • During the day on Saturday you can watch student athletes from across Canada compete in the High School Grand Prix.
  
  
  • And on both Saturday and Sunday Tasty Tours offers special Mother's Day walking tours.

If you're an event planner hosting something this weekend, feel free to tell us about it in the comments section below. For later events, learn how to submit an event listing to About.com: Toronto.

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