Brad Pitt, J-Lo to lead star parade at Toronto film fest

Brad Pitt on Oceans 13 Set

The 31st annual Toronto Film festival will attract more star power than usual this year with Brad Pitt, Russell Crowe, Jennifer Lopez, Reese Witherspoon and Sean Penn among the Oscar winners and Hollywood heavyweights expected to attend.

Organizers said on Tuesday that the 10-day festival, which starts on September 7, will include 352 feature films and shorts from 61 countries and 107 world premieres.

The festival has grown in influence over the years and is now seen, along with Cannes, Berlin Sundance, as one of the leading showcases for the movies that will be vying for Oscars and other awards early next year.

Actors Liam Neeson, Jude Law, Dustin Hoffman, Peter O'Toole, and Anthony Hopkins are also expected to bolster the festival's celebrity contingent.

Most of the features will be world or North America premieres and many of the films are entered in the hope of finding distributors from the 5,000 industry professionals who will be attending.