ARTS & MEDIA | Eco Art & Media Festival
Presented by York University's Environmental Studies Department, the 18th annual Eco Art & Media Festival opens today at the school's Keele Campus, with art, design and media works by students wishing to engage in themes of diversity and reflection. This free festival will include exhibits like Diversity of Tongues, where visitors are asked to leave messages on a multi-lingual message board in their own language, and Regenesis — Toronto Ecovillage Project, a collective mural that challenges the boundaries of urban landscapes by creating interactive communities. The festival continues until March 9th with plenty more eco-minded exhibits, panels, workshops, screenings and even a cabaret.
York University (88 The Pond Road) 9AM Free

FILM | Free After Three Free Film Screening: Exit Through the Gift Shop
Toronto graffiti artists Sean Martindale and Pascal Paquette play host to a free screening at the AGO of Exit Through the Gift Shop, also known as the documentary about Banksy. Combined with the Toronto Now Series, the screening of this film will be followed by a discussion about contemporary art with Martindale and Paquette referencing their own works and comparing the struggles of the artists in the film to their own. Observe how Mr. Brainwash grew from an amateur French filmmaker who just wanted to hang with the big boys to being a hotly debated postmodernist.
Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas Street West) 3:30PM Free

MUSIC | Saint Motel Spring Tour
Labeled by The New York Times as the reanimators of power pop, Saint Motel stops in at Horseshoe tonight for a show featuring their latest music. Indie pop rockers that have been playing together for 5 years, Saint Motel are currently on their spring tour, hitting 10 cities (tonight's show is the only Canadian stop on the tour) and filming music videos as they go. The Los Angeles quartet is known for their lively and poetically wild shows so expect a good time.
Horseshoe Tavern (370 Queen Street West) 8PM Free

ARCHITECTURE | David Gissen: Some Thoughts About the Ground
Architecture and urbanism historian and lecturer at California College of the Arts, David Gissen is scheduled to lecture about his recent work "Subnature: Architecture's Other Environment," a book detailing theories of pollution from an architectural standpoint. The published author will discuss the darker side of urbanism, from decay to dust to debris, and how architecture has a less than perfect relationship with nature. The lecture will take place at U of T's Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design and is open to the public.
The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design (230 College Street) 6:30PM Free

FILM | The Last Movie: A Film Noir by Bruce Pittman
Playing at The Royal Cinema tonight is an advanced screening of Academy Award nominee and Revue Cinema founder Bruce Pittman's The Last Movie, a behind-the-scenes film noir about a writer-director remaking a thriller on a low budget. When the writer-director Nicholas Crawley casts Elizabeth Seitz as his lead actress, a slow madness overpowers her turning the production into a thriller of its own. The Royal is a cash only theatre--something to keep in mind now that advance tickets are sold out and can only be purchased at the door.
The Royal Cinema (608 College Street) 8:30PM $10

OTHER EVENTS ON OUR RADAR:

• Lyra, MILK, Top Brass--A Night of Mystery Indie at Rancho
• The Whirly Birds
• Little Terrors Vol. 8 Short Film Event--Hidden Worlds
• Gia & The Unpredictable Update Anatomical Signatures Release Party

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

For Toronto movie showtimes, view our Movie Listings section.

Photo by Neil Ta in the blogTO Flickr pool.