The work that Hariri Pontarini Architects have done in restoring the Bloor Cinema — now known as the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema — was already impressive, but today the project feels almost complete with the installation of the pièce de résistance: a deco-inspired marquee that reaffirms the theatre's importance at Bathurst and Bloor.

This Week in Rep Cinema features second run and classic film selections from cinemas such as the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, The Fox, The Revue, The Royal, Toronto Underground Cinema, the Projection Booth, TIFF Bell Lightbox, and more.

With TIFF Kids coming to a close, that can only mean one thing, Hot Docs is just around the bend! The festival starts on Thursday and you can already see our picks in this preview. Next week's post will mostly focus on festival screenings, but this week, there's music, lust, aliens and nasty divorce settlements!

Spotted on Queen West earlier this week is Toronto's newest mode of transportation — Baxi. Yup, it's a piggyback service, which is, you know, way more fun than a rickshaw ride. It's also a publicity tool for a short film that you probably haven't heard of yet.

Written and directed by Nick Latimer — the Baxi himself — Hogtown is in the words of its creator a dark comedy "about an insomniac who spends his nights piggybacking people in a nightmare of a city known as Hogtown. Carl Gilmour (a.k.a. Baxi) piggybacks a slew of scum bags ranging from the mildly annoying to the armed and dangerous. These "pigs" push Carl to the edge of sanity forcing him to violent, bloody street justice. A vigilante is born. Piggybacker by day, butcher by night."

The 2012 Hot Docs Festival kicks off next Thursday with 189 movies, heroes, villains, rock stars, athletes, reindeer herders, and more. Programmers have booked us a spotlight on docs from Southeastern Europe, a retrospective of Michel Brault's career, an entire program devoted to stories about Rising Up, and according to early reports, guest appearances by James Franco and Rick Springfield.

The festival runs from April 26th through May 6th, so it might be time to start thinking about getting tickets. If you aren't too sure where to start, here is a short rundown of this year's festival, and a few docs you might want to hit.

This Week in Film rounds up noteworthy new releases in theatres, as well as key DVD / Blu-Ray releases, festivals, and other cinema-related events happening in Toronto.

This Week in Rep Cinema features second run and classic film selections from cinemas such as the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, The Fox, The Revue, The Royal, Toronto Underground Cinema, the Projection Booth, TIFF Bell Lightbox and more.

Festival fever has begun in Toronto with two drastically different events taking the city by storm. The TIFF Bell Lightbox is full-up with programming for TIFF Kids, the new younger version of the Sprockets Film Festival, while the Images Festival takes a turn around the AGO Jackman Hall and the Toronto Underground Cinema. The Projection Booth has some fun with Earth Day, the Mediatheque introduces us to some every-day heroes and the Bloor Cinema takes on cultural hallmarks like record fans and the comic industry.