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People still talk about Pittsburgh Filmmakers' first Tonic -- a night of music, art, food and revelry held in 2001 -- and judging from advance ticket sales no one wants to miss out this time.

At 7:30 tomorrow night the doors open on Media Tonic II, which fills every corner of Filmmakers' 477 Melwood Ave. building -- even the rest rooms -- with music, performance, installation and two-dimensional art, food and fun. The lights stay on until 11:30 p.m.

"When you come here Saturday night, you're going to be embraced by the arts -- physically, mentally," says event curator and Filmmakers staff member Amy Robeson.

The approach will clue you in to what's ahead when you pop across the fire engine red bubble wrap of artist Tiffany Sum's piece that begins at the front door and scrolls up the grand staircase. Sum, a student at Carnegie Mellon University, will give "a live red carpet performance outside our building," Robeson says.

A Port Authority bus holds not passengers but film installations by CAPA students under the direction of artist and CAPA faculty Dennis Childers and Tim Frank, creative director for the Port Authority.

And, as realistic as those flames licking the second-floor windows look, don't let them scare you away. Part of an installation by artist Gern, they're actually prints on backlit paper (like the kind seen at bus stops). Robeson says that with the windows covered during the recent hot spell, staff offices began to heat up and the fire element of the installation rose "above and beyond imagery."

Oversized puppets suspended from the ceiling have taken over the sound stage in Bob Labobgah's installation. Early in the evening he and nine musicians and dancers, members of his Bone Dry River Company, will perform a "voyeuristic" piece beneath them. "Every Pittsburgher should enjoy and take part in [his performances] at least once," Robeson says.

At the back of the sound stage, you can move through large-scale plaster sculptures that North Carolina artist Rebekah Tolley projects imagery onto.

Dormont artist Laura Magone's installation/performance "The Tail End" is based on video footage she made of tailgating at Steelers games over five years. It also includes found objects.

"It's amazing what kinds of things people left behind," Robeson says. Magone even found a jacuzzi.

Pittsburgh's own Jonathan Keller filled his apartment with small houses for his installation made from discarded paper recycled from the Filmmakers offices.

Among two-dimensional pieces are Sue Abramson's five "elephant ears," large-scale black-and-white photographs, and two series by the PG's Bill Wade, currently exhibiting in "Pittsburgh NOW" at Silver Eye Center for Photography. Robert Beckman, also in the Annual Exhibition, pushes digital technology with prints that are 9 feet tall. Philomena O'Dea shows 24 large color prints of Iraq war protests held in Pittsburgh.

The six current Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship winners were invited, and all accepted. Among them are local winners Jesse McLean, who created an installation, and James Duesing, 2004 Pittsburgh Center for the Arts Artist of the Year, who has produced an interactive animation work.

Two professors drove in from the University of North Carolina to install, and other artists are from as far as California. But these are just a sampler: More than 120 artists are exhibiting, 42 of them from Pittsburgh.

Media Tonic will serve as the opening reception for a solo show in the New Gallery of work by photojournalist Jeff Swensen, who has been published in more than 200 newspapers and magazines, including Sports Illustrated and Newsweek. Work by Cassandra Jones, who is also in the Annual Exhibition of the Three Rivers Arts Festival, is displayed in the Outer Gallery.

The mini-Melwood screening room will show works ranging in length from 2 to about 22 minutes in a "very friendly atmosphere" where drinks and snacks are OK, Robeson says.

To keep going you can nosh free on the products of sponsors, such as Yuengling, Krispy Kreme and Sobe inside. Behind the building, on Gold Way, you can buy a variety of ethnic foods from the truck vendors who are usually parked at the University of Pittsburgh.

Music includes three-piece Philadelphia alternative, artist-connected band eyelevel followed by former Rusted Root drummer Jim DiSpirito and his nine-piece band Big World in the nearby Dykema Building. DiSpirito will also join Daryl Fleming & The Elusive Snapping Republic for an interactive music and video piece from 9:15 to 10 p.m. in the Melwood Screening Room.

The headliner, national recording artist John Doe, starts at 10 p.m. in the Dykema Building.

The Pittsburgh-based Middle Eastern Khafif Music and Dance group will perform from 8 to 9 p.m., and will also circulate through the building offering tips on dance movements. Keep an eye out for Attack Theater and for Steve Pellegrino's radio piece, an expansion with 16 musicians on recent Three Rivers Arts Festival performances.

Media Tonic II was helped by a grant from The Sprout Fund and sponsorship by Courtyard by Marriott.

While the two-dimensional work will remain up through Aug. 1, tomorrow night will be the only chance to see all of the installation works.

Tickets are $15 and may be purchased at the door or at www.mediatonic.org; through Filmmakers from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at 412-681-5449 or 477 Melwood Ave., North Oakland; at its theaters or The Box Office at Theater Square, 665 Penn Ave., Downtown.

A VIP reception with the artists -- with catering by Hot Metal Grille, wine tasting by Pennsylvania wineries, beer from the new East End Brewing Co., and a performance by Khafif and Philadelphia instrumental band RED -- will begin at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $100 and available at Filmmakers or at the door.