Annette Bening plays Julia Lambert in opening film Being Julia

One hundred movies will be given their world premieres at the 10-day festival, including Kevin Spacey's Beyond the Sea and Scarlett Johansson's A Good Woman.

It opens with Being Julia, starring Annette Bening as a 1930s London star.

The Canadian festival does not award prizes, but it is often used to identify potential Oscar winners.

Eclectic selection

Thousands of film industry distributors and publicists are set to attend the annual festival, known for its eclectic selection of films.

"People see us as an international festival of discovery, which is how we've always wanted to be seen," said festival co-director Noah Cowan.

"Our more traditional roles as the most significant launch platform for award-destined films and as the home of Canadian cinema also remain intact."

The festival will feature 328 films from 61 countries, including I Heart Huckerbees starring Dustin Hoffman and biopic Ray, which stars Jamie Foxx as musician Ray Charles.

Spacey writes, directs, acts and sings in premiere Beyond the Sea

Other films expected to attract attention include Der Untergang, which depicts the final days of Hitler in his bunker in Berlin and suggests the dictator's human characteristics.

Nine Songs by British director Michael Winterbottom and Anatomy of Hell by France's Catherine Breillat are expected to provoke a strong reaction due to their explicit sex scenes.

Meanwhile festival organisers have received death threats from animal rights activists after deciding to screen Causistry: The Art of Killing a Cat, which features two activists planning to kill a domestic pet.