The Toronto Film Festival attracts film buffs from around the world

A film about the fictitious murder of US president George Bush is also among the movies to be featured.

The influential Canadian event, which runs until 16 September, is regarded by many as a showcase for Hollywood movies hoping to be Oscar contenders.

The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, about an Inuit shaman, opens the festival.

Other films on offer include All the King's Men with Sean Penn and Jude Law and El Cantante starring real-life couple Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony.

Glamour

James Bond star Daniel Craig appears as killer Perry Smith in Infamous, about the years Truman Capote spent researching real-life crime novel In Cold Blood.

Death of A President was made for the UK's Channel 4

The film also stars Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sigourney Weaver.

Actors Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez, Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Penelope Cruz are among those expected to attend the festival.

Toronto also has a political feel this year - as well as Death of a President, there will be a screening of documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing about the band's fall-out with George Bush over Iraq.

Spike Lee's Hurricane Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts will also be shown and Michael Moore will showcase clips of his upcoming film Sicko about the US healthcare system.

"This year seems to be shaping up around politics. We do live in a very violent and politically divisive age, and a lot of the films that people are picking up on this year have provocative political content," festival co-director Noah Cowan told the AFP news agency.

A total of 352 films from 61 countries will be screened at Toronto, including 261 feature films.