Running in parallel to the offerings at the Lightbox and other theatrical venues at TIFF 2011 is Future Projections, a city-wide programme dedicated to the visual arts and moving image installations. Participating artists include Mr. Brainwash, James Franco and Gus Van Sant, Peter Lynch, Nicholas and Sheila Pye, David Rokeby, Elle Flanders and Tamira Swatzky, Duane Hopkins, and David Lamelas, among others. The exhibitions are free and are open to the public for the remainder of the festival, which ends this Sunday, September 18. Here are five of the programme's stand-out exhibitions.

Mr. BRAINWASH IN TORONTO - MR. BRAINWASH
Infer what you will from the facts that the indie-centric Sundance got Banksy, and the glitzier TIFF got Mr. Brainwash. Love him or hate him, the subject of Exit Through the Gift Shop is a fascinating figure, and now, undeniably, a major player on the commercial art scene. In addition to an exhibition at Gallery One (121 Scollard Street), MBW furnished his signature oversized spray cans to adorn the red carpet at Roy Thompson Hall, and has developed the poster campaign for TIFF's forthcoming Grace Kelly exhibition.

SANCTUARY - GREGORY CREWDSON
In a wonderful complement to TIFF's ongoing Spectacular Obsessions exhibition (which also closes on Sunday), American photographer Gregory Crewdson presents a series of photographs taken at the Cinecittà studios in Rome, where Frederico Fellini shot several of his most famous films, and which also provided backdrops for Martin Scorcese's Gangs of New York, Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, and HBO's Rome. Sanctuary is hosted by the Contact Gallery, 80 Spadina Avenue, Suite 310.

MEMORIES OF IDAHO - JAMES FRANCO & GUS VAN SANT
Modern day Renaissance Man James Franco does it all. To acting, directing, writing, and hosting awards shows, add assembling visual art installations. His latest is Memories of Idaho, which has taken residence in the Lightbox atrium for the duration of the festival. A tribute to actor River Phoenix and filmmaker Gus Van Sant, Franco has re-worked footage from My Own Private Idaho into a feature length portrait of its star, and re-shot one of Van Sant's Idaho scripts into a 30-minute super 8 short.

SLOW ACTION - BEN RIVERS
UK artist Ben Rivers takes cues from the fascinating tradition of fifties-era ethnographic cinema in fashioning his four-part, 16mm, 45-minute film, Slow Action. Rivers depicts four imaginary communities inhabiting a post-apocalyptic future, and also draws on tropes of classic sci-fi and utopian literature. Slow Action is hosted by Gallery TPW, 56 Ossington Avenue.

BUFFALO DAYS - PETER LYNCH
Canadian director Peter Lynch is best known for his documentary Project Grizzly, but he's also produced a number of video art installations. He draws on that experience in Buffalo Days, which examines the impact of European settlers on native populations. Lynch represents different facets of this clash of cultures with a series of separate but related projections. Buffalo Days screens at the ROM's Thorsell Spirit House, 100 Queen's Park Avenue.

For a full list of Future Projections exhibitions and locations, visit tiff.net.

A big thanks to Drive, an Alliance film opening in theatres on September 16th, for sponsoring our coverage of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.