Chris Marker's La Jetée.

The TIFF Lightbox is a pleasant walk from Le Sélect. TIFF marks the Contact photography festival with a tribute to French director Chris Marker. Don't miss his classic sci-fi short film, La Jetée, told almost entirely through a series of black and white still shots. (It was remade by Terry Gilliam as 12 Monkeys.)

The Contact photography festival continues through the month of May with events around the city.

Rubens' Massacre of the Innocents, part of the Thomson Collection

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO)'s permanent collection includes a stunning display of European art and sculpture, a flotilla of extraordinary model ships, and art and sculpture from sub-Saharan Africa.

Plus there's the old favourites: 11000 years of Canadian art, Dutch and Flemish masters, Henry Moore, and a big contemporary collection overlooking Grange Park.

The Peruzzi Altarpiece by Giotto di Bondone

To June 16, travel back in time to to Florence in the Early Renaissance. Revealing the Early Renaissance: Stories and Secrets in Florentine Art will explore how the city's economy of the time fostered a unique demand for artworks both religious and civic. You'll get to interact with the exhibition at hands-on stations - explore inside the Renaissance artist's studio, discover the pigments and tools used, hear music of the time. And see more than 90 pieces from the 14th century, including Giotto's five-panel Peruzzi Altarpiece and his Madonna of San Giorgio alla Costa, two painted manuscripts of Dante's Divine Comedy, and Bernardo Daddi's Virgin Mary with Saints Thomas Aquinas and Paul.

Arnold Newman's portrait of Henry Moore at the AGO

The AGO's contribution to the Contact photography festival is Light My Fire: Some Propositions about Portraits and Photography (to October 20), a celebration of the AGO's great photography collection. Presented as five propositions in two parts over the course of a year, the exhibition will feature more than 200 photographs from the collection, many shown for the first time.

The ROM

At the Royal Ontario Museum: there's the permanent collection - everything early Canadiana to Chinese temple art to the textile and costume collection to the amazing assemblage of crystals which inspired Daniel Liebeskind's glass and steel extension.

Genesis by Sebastião Salgado at the ROM

The ROM is also a venue in the Contact photography festival. Genesis by Sebastião Salgado runs to September 2. Capturing the majesty of regions not yet touched by the impact of globalization, these photographs depict unspoiled landscapes, boundless wildlife, and human communities still following traditional ways of living. The exhibition is organized into five themes representing different geo-climatic zones: Planet South, Sanctuaries, Africa, Northern Spaces, and Amazonia and Pantanal.

Works by Michael Smith at the Metevier Gallery

Right in our neighbourhood: Nicholas Metivier Gallery is at 451 King St West, west of Spadina. As with the ROM, they are showing a collection of Sebastão Salgado's photographs, to May 25. From May 30 to June 22, works by Michael Smith are on. Check out the gallery website.

Factory Theatre is also an easy walk from Le Sélect, and always features outstanding new Canadian theatre. The current season wraps up with Stopheart by Amy Lee Lavoie to May 26, and returns in November with The Gravitational Pull of Bernice Trimble by Beth Graham. While making her mother's Everything-That-Is-Bad-For-You casserole, Iris struggles with life, family and the unwieldy laws of the universe.

Swan Lake by the National Ballet

Canadian Opera Company at the Four Seasons Centre at Queen and University returns in October with La Bohème and Peter Grimes. Also sharing the Four Seasons Centre is the National Ballet of Canada. They're staging Carmen from June 5 to 16, and a trio of works - Pur ti Miro & No. 24 & The Man in Black & Theme and Variations - from June 19 to 23. The new season kicks off in November with Swan Lake.

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