For ten days every April this festival, billed as the city's most comprehensive media arts event, offers everything from film screenings and symposia to guest lectures relating to modern-day image-making around the world. The festival has been offering audiences the chance to see a wide variety of video and film from international artists since 1988, and in 1996 decided to provide off-site installations as well. Several prizes are awarded every year to those filmmakers whose stories are deemed exceptional in their category.

There is a growing number of festivals in the world that can be described as "[city name]'s answer to the mammoth Austin festival South by Southwest." Toronto's NXNE is one of the biggest events of this kind. Just like its Texan prototype, it features music, film, comedy, and tech components. The music part is no doubt the most spectacular, featuring hundreds of artists every year. The festival started as a showcase for local, under-recognized, and/or unsigned musicians, but now it attracts many artists that are known globally. Most events take place in downtown Toronto. Some concerts that are part of the festival might appear here as separate events, please check the festival's official website for the complete schedule.

What began in 1976 as a local Festival of Festivals has become an internationally renowned attraction bringing movie stars to the streets of downtown Toronto. Every year hundreds of new films are presented, and masses turn out for film viewing and stargazing.