TORONTO — The 40th Toronto International Film Festival will play host to a star-studded roster of top filmmakers and movie stars next month, including Ridley Scott, Matt Damon, Sandra Bullock and Johnny Depp. The festival, a frequent launch pad for Oscar contenders, will showcase 289 feature films and more than 100 shorts from 71 countries from Sept. 10 to Sept. 20, including 132 world premieres. Director Scott and cast members of the highly anticipated space film, “The Martian,” are expected to be in Toronto for the film's world premiere. Damon plays an astronaut fighting for survival on Mars after being presumed dead and left behind following a brutal storm. Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton plan to be on hand for the world premiere of David Gordon Green's “Our Brand is Crisis,” a film about rival American political strategists working to fix a Bolivian presidential election. Returning favorites, director Jean-Marc Vallée and Jake Gyllenhaal, will present the festival opener, “Demolition,” while Kate Winslet and Liam Hemsworth will promote the world premiere of Australian film, “The Dressmaker,” directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse. Helen Mirren and Bryan Cranston are expected to be in town for the world premiere of Jay Roach's biopic “Trumbo,” about Hollywood blacklist victim Dalton Trumbo, while Michael Moore returns to the big screen with the first screening of “Where to Invade Next.” — Reuters
