Festivals in
Richmond Hill and
Newmarket, Ontario
  

October | November | December |
2012: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September |

Restaurants and Food Establishments
Each year, Tastes of the Hill attracts well over 1,000 members of the community for an afternoon filled with culinary delight. Registering for the event is FREE, but does require you to provide food/drink samples for those in attendance. Tastes of the Hill provides an opportunity for you to showcase your establishment, promote your dedication to our community and fill reservations for months to come.

November 14, 7 p.m.
Richmond Hill Mini Film Festival - The Reel Thing

Participate in a truly unique cultural experience here in Richmond Hill! With the support and cooperation of the Toronto International Film Festival Group (TIFFG) and Film Circuit, the Town of Richmond Hill is pleased to continue offering its own mini Film Festival, The Reel Thing, featuring critically acclaimed International and Canadian works not regularly screened.

All films will be screened at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts located at 10268 Yonge Street. Screenings will take place on Monday evenings and begin at 7 p.m.

• The Reel Thing: Sarah's Key (Elle s'appelait Sarah)
  Julia Jarmond, an American journalist married to a Frenchman, is commissioned to write an article about the notorious Vel d'Hiv round up, which took place in Paris, in 1942. She stumbles upon a family secret which will link her forever to the destiny of a young Jewish girl, Sarah. Julia learns that the apartment she and her husband Bertrand plan to move into was acquired by Bertrand's family when its Jewish occupants were dispossessed and deported 60 years before. She resolves to find out what happened to the former occupants: Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, parents of 10-year-old Sarah and four-year-old Michel. The more Julia discovers the more she uncovers about Bertrand's family, about France and, finally, herself.
  
  CRITICAL NOTES
  Here's an unconventional French Holocaust drama, a film that plays as a guilty remembrance of a dark corner of French history tucked into a ticking clock thriller - Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
  
  FILM INFORMATION
  Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner
  Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Mélusine Mayance, and Niels Arestrup
  Year: 2010
  Runtime: 111 minutes
  Country: France
  Language: French
  

November 18 - 19
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is a unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema and work from the Asian diaspora. Works include films and videos by East and Southeast Asian artist in Canada, the U.S., Asia and all over the world. As Canada's largest Asian film festival, Reel Asian provides a public forum for Asian media artists and their work, and fuels the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada.

• November 18, 7 p.m.
  Overheard 2
  
  Hong Kong 2011 | 99 min | Directors Felix Chong, Alan Mak | Rated 14A
  
  Hong Kong heavyweights Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo and Daniel Wu return in this crime thriller about greed and betrayal in the high-stakes world of insider trading and corporate espionage.
  
  
• November 19, 1:30 p.m.
  Saigon Electric (Sài Gòn Yo)
  
  USA/Vietnam 2011 | 103 min | Director Stephane Gauger | Rated G
  
  Hip hop dancers from the tough streets of Saigon befriend a ribbon dancer from the countryside. Together, they must dance for their lives to save the only home they know.
  
  
• November 19, 4 p.m.
  Bleak Night
  
  South Korea 2010 | 116 min | Director Yoon Sung-Hyun | Rated PG
  
  The sudden death of a high-school student reveals the complex and competitive power dynamics among teenage boys in this psychological drama from South Korea. Preceded by A Drummer's Passion (Canada 2011 | 12 min | Director Mingu Kim) - Mingu Kim in attendance.
  
  
• November 19, 7 p.m.
  Jump Ashin!
  
  Taiwan 2011 | Director Lin Yu-hsien
  
  Inspired by a true story, Jump Ashin! follows the adventures and mishaps of a young man determined to be a world-class gymnast. Winner of the 2011 Taipei Film Festival Audience Award.

December 19, 7:00pm
Richmond Hill Mini Film Festival - The Reel Thing

Participate in a truly unique cultural experience here in Richmond Hill! With the support and cooperation of the Toronto International Film Festival Group (TIFFG) and Film Circuit, the Town of Richmond Hill is pleased to continue offering its own mini Film Festival, The Reel Thing, featuring critically acclaimed International and Canadian works not regularly screened.

All films will be screened at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts located at 10268 Yonge Street. Screenings will take place on Monday evenings and begin at 7 p.m.

• The Reel Thing - December CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS
  Werner Herzog is a wizard at conjuring unforgettable visions, from the ship dragged over the mountain in Fitzcarraldo to the Antarctic landscape in Encounters at the End of the World. Now he brings us the earliest known visions of mankind: the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc cave art of southern France. Premiering at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival®, Cave of Forgotten Dreams brings these remarkable paintings to vivid life.
  
  Sealed shut by a landslide for 20,000 years until it was finally discovered in 1994, the Chauvet Cave in southern France contains some of the oldest known examples of prehistoric art. By comparison, the famous cave art of Lascaux is roughly half as old. Since Chauvet’s discovery, access has been extremely restricted due to concerns that overexposure, even to human breath, could damage the priceless drawings. This invaluable historic site had been open only to a select group of scientists until legendary director Werner Herzog obtained extraordinary permission to film these ancient artworks. With limited time, a skeleton crew and an improvised lighting system – the technical restrictions imposed on account of atmospheric fragility are severe – Herzog superbly conveys the mystery and the majesty of these paintings As usual, he complements his exploration of a mysterious environment with journeys into the human environment that has grown up around it, amusingly interviewing scientists and local residents and indulging in typically Herzogian philosophizing throughout.
  
  T he result is a quiet and captivating documentary that not only raises questions about history and art, but the nature of creation and the eternal struggle of mankind to understand.
  
  CRITICAL NOTES
  'Art history lessons don't get much better: Cave of Forgotten Dreams presents the world's oldest paintings captured by one of film's great visionaries'.
  – Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
  
  FILM INFORMATION
  Director: Werner Herzog
  Cast: Werner Herzog, Dominique Baffier and Jean Clottes
  Year: 2011
  Runtime: 95 minutes
  Country: Canada , USA, France, Germany, UK
  Language: English, German
  

Some other notable weekend activities include a children's midway, pony rides, rock climbing wall, Viking Village, Muskoka wildlife shows, arts and crafts, face painting, ice carvings, stage entertainment, skating on the pond, and many more sites and activities. Entry to Carnival is free, for $2 visitors can purchase a Carnival button and be eligible for dozens of prizes including an Ipod, Canadian Tire Power Tools, a flat screen TV, a digital camera and a candle package from Party Lite. A children's bike draw will be held on both Saturday and Sunday. Complementary shuttle busses will be provided from strategic locations, please visit www. wintercarnival.net or call the Carnival hotline at 905-771-7700 for details.

Free admission, nominal fee for some activities. A donation of non-perishable food for the Newmarket Food Pantry is appreciated. Children receive a free passport, complete activities and have a chance to win a prize. Many activities organized by community service groups and volunteers. Activities subject to change & weather permitting.

Contact the Town of Newmarket  www.newmarket.ca

On June 3-5 the villages of Sutton and Jackson's Point at Lake Simcoe will host the second annual Blue Bridge Festival, presented by the Ardeleana Chamber Music Society. This fun-filled, innovative 15 event festival of chamber music, poetry and song is directed by cellist/songwriter Brenda Muller. Don't miss the canoe/ kayak paddle down the Black River lead by Opera Singers and greeted by bagpipers and Chippewa Drummers, the historic horse-drawn wagon tour to magical concert venues, or the family-oriented musical story-theatre compositions by Mary Gardiner and Brenda Muller. Concert premieres include Alice Ho's Drunk Beauty, for Ardeleana and the Yellow River Ensemble (dizi, ehru, zheng) Poets and Performers joining festival hosts Ardeleana (Brenda Muller, cello; Emma Elkinson, flute; Catherine Maguire, piano; Wallis Giunta, mezzo-soprano; Andrea Cerswell soprano) for concerts and writing workshops include distinguished Canadian poets Barry Dempster, Patricia Keeney and M. Travis Lane, conductor Tony Browning, the Tapestry Chamber Choir, and singer-songwriters Marie-Lynn Hammond, Magoo and Ed Winacott.

A celebration of sustainability in the Region. The festival will be an information destination for green ideas, home energy conservation, local and organic food demonstrations and sampling, health and wellness presentations, cycling workshops and more. A must attend for the whole family, this annual production appeals to the whole family.

Free admission – free parking. 905-727-0491

Annual Doors Open Richmond Hill event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Many intriguing cultural, historic and religious sites within Richmond Hill will open their doors to the public. Even long-time Richmond Hill residents will likely learn something new about their hometown after visiting Doors Open sites.

Doors Open Brochure with Map
The Doors Open Richmond Hill brochure, which includes a list of Doors Open sites, as well as a map is available at the link below.

For more information about the Doors Open Ontario Program, visit www.doorsopenontario.on.ca.

For more information about Doors Open Richmond Hill, please contact Maggie MacKenzie, Heritage Services Coordinator at (905) 737-8985, ext. 6007.

Juried festival featuring artisans displaying their original works for sale, fun for the whole family along the banks of the Holland River. Voluntary donations accepted at entrance to assist Lions Foundation Projects. Proceeds from this event will benefit the various Lions special charities including Lions Camp Kirk Foundation for children with learning disabilities and Lions Quest, a drug awareness program brought to children within our schools all over Canada. 905-895-3193

Pancake Breakfast, 8 a.m. to noon, $4, Hosted by Newmarket Car Club, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Water Street, Newmarket. Kanata Celebration, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fairy Lake Park, Water Street, Newmarket. Fun for the whole family: inflatable bouncers, extreme bike demonstration and live entertainment. Free admission. Presented by the Town of Newmarket. Kanata Fireworks, dusk (10 p.m.), George Richardson Park, Bayview Parkway, Newmarket. The Town of Newmarket is proud to present the annual Canada Day fireworks. Newmarket Citizens Band performs starting at 7:30 p.m., weather permitting. Free.

Cooking demonstrations, live entertainment, garlic vendors and much more. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Subject to change. Contact the Town of Newmarket at 905-895-5193, www.newmarket.ca August 16 International Day on Main Street 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Visit the shops of Main Street and experience the excitement of food, music, products and services that represent the many countries featured during this multi-cultural event, 905-853-5843.

Enjoy free activities, tours and explore Newmarket's rich heritage during Doors Open Newmarket. Many of Newmarket's interesting architectural, cultural and historical sites will open their doors to residents and visitors during this fun and educational experience.