In February 2006, New Leaders was proud to present Fuse, an intimate evening of film and art with celebrated filmmaker Atom Egoyan. This pageant of the aesthetic featured a rare screening of Citadel, one of Atom's most personal films to date, followed by an exhibition and silent auction of original pieces by some of Toronto's most innovative and exciting artists. Enthusiastically received by all who participated, Fuse raised close to $10,000 in support of the Division of Neurosurgery at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

THE EVENING

Introducing Citadel to a capacity crowd of almost 50 people in Camera bar's private screening room, Atom Egoyan facilitated an interactive post-screening discussion that drew praise, questions and engaging commentary from viewers. The audience was particularly struck by Atom’s manipulation of the home movie idiom: blending reality with artifice, Atom presented a cinematic construction that superimposed suspense, conflict, a deeply personal history of Lebanon and an unexpected ending on the banality of a travelogue.

Following the screening, more than 125 artists and art patrons crowded into Camera and the adjoinging Stephen Bulger Gallery for the post-screening silent art auction. The renowned Stephen Bulger Gallery provided the perfect setting to display an outstanding exhibit of 28 donated paintings, photographs, jewelry creations and mixed media pieces, several of which elicited fierce bidding wars, fetching prices close to $1000.

New Leaders gratefully acknowledges Fuse's many sponsors, but we wish to draw particular attention to our Gold Sponsor Sports Clubs of Canada, which donated 3 one-year memberships valued at $1,800 each; our Silver Sponsor Global TV; our Friend Sponsors Dorplex Industries, Genuine Health, the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, and Warren Shepell; and our exclusive vodka sponsor Iceberg Vodka. New Leaders is also indebted to the many artists who donated a diverse selection of outstanding pieces to our silent art auction.

For more information about Fuse, Citadel, the art and our sponsors, please visit www.fuse06.com.

DIVISION OF NEUROSURGERY, SUNNYBROOK HEALTH SCIENCES CENTRE

New Leaders was proud to support Sunnybrook's Division of Neurosurgery, which performs more than 1,200 operations per year, participates in many international clinical trials and provides pre-eminent services in the management of patients with injuries to the brain and spinal cord.

Among other distinctions, the Division, in collaboration with the Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre, has pioneered stereotactic radiosurgery, which involves the delivery of very high doses of radiation to small targets in the brain (a technique useful for the treatment of small tumours and vascular malformations). The Division has the largest experience of this modality in Canada.

The Division has several specific needs, including plans to replace its stereotactic frame. A new frame will help surgeons obtain biopsies more accurately in the operating room and improve localization of targets for radiosurgery.

CITADEL

Directed and produced by Atom Egoyan, Citadel is an experimental camcorder documentary tracing the deeply personal return of actor Arsinée Khanjian, Atom's personal and professional partner, to Lebanon after a 28-year absence. In extremely limited release, this film has been acclaimed by cinephiles at exclusive screenings at Camera.