Here are a five key facts about the Toronto International Film Festival, a movie gathering that is often dubbed the "people's festival" because it's relatively easy to get a ticket, and because moviegoers vote for the top-ranked People's Choice Award.
The festival runs Sept. 6-15.
- The 10-day festival will show 349 films from 55 countries, including both Hollywood blockbusters and movies from countries that include Serbia, Turkey, and Burkina Faso. There will be 275 features and mid-length films, and 85 percent of those are world, international, or North American premieres.
- The festival is now in its 32nd year and ranks with Cannes, Sundance, Berlin and Venice as one of the world's most influential. It will draw more than 500 stars and industry insiders, including film heavyweights Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Sean Penn, Woody Allen, Cate Blanchett, Reese Witherspoon, Clive Owen, Charlize Theron, and Uma Thurman.
- Films this year delve into American politics, the war in Iraq, music, and love
- The longest film, a black-and-white Filipino epic about the aftermath of a typhoon called Death in the Land of Encantos runs a mind-boggling nine hours.
- The festival has increasingly become a launch pad for Academy Awards season in Hollywood. Past TIFF films that have gone on to win the best picture awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences include American Beauty , Crash and Chariots of Fire.
Edited by The Epoch Times
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