-By Etan Vlessing

TORONTO -- Turning up the star wattage, the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday unveiled world premieres for new films by Robert Redford, Guillaume Canet, Michael Winterbottom, John Cameron Mitchell and Mike Mills.

Toronto's 35th edition also booked North American bows for the latest movies from Woody Allen, Sylvain Chomet, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Mike Leigh, Julian Schnabel and Korea's Im Sang-Soo.

Redford's "The Conspirator, which stars James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, will receive a gala screening at Roy Thomson Hall, traditionally a fall launchpad for Oscar contenders.

So will Canet's "Little White Lies," a beachside drama that stars Marion Cotillard, Benoit Magimel and Gilles Lellouche, and "The Bang Bang Club," Steven Silver's Canada/South African co-production starring Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman, Taylor Kitsch, Neels Van Jaarsveld and Frank Rautenbach.

Also receiving a world bow at Roy Thomson Hall is George Hickenlooper's "Casino Jack," which stars Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff, Emilio Estevez' "The Way," staring Martin Sheen, British filmmaker Andy De Emmony's "West is West," the sequel to "East is East, and Bollywood star Om Puri returning in a starring role, "Janie Jones," from David Rosenthal, and Barry Blaustein's "Peep World."

In all, around 50 films were unveiled Tuesday at Toronto's opening press conference, including 25 world premieres.

There was no word on a possible Toronto berth for Julie Taymor's "The Tempest," already booked into Venice, and fest director Piers Handling would not be drawn on whether Mel Gibson will walk the red carpet here to promote Jodie Foster's "The Beaver."

"We look at everything. We spread a wide net," Handling added after a no comment on Gibson possibly showing up in Toronto after his recent taped rants to his former partner.

North American premieres to receive red carpet treatment at Roy Thomson Hall include Darren Aronofsky's "The Swan," transitioning from Venice toToronto, John Madden's spy thriller "The Debt," staring Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain and Sam Worthington, South Korean filmmaker Im Sang-Soo's "The Housemaid," Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech," which stars Colin Firth as King George VI, Francois Ozon's "Potiche," Ben Affleck's cops and robbers thriller "The Town," and Richard J. Lewis' Dustin Hoffman-starrer "Barney's Version."

In the Special Presentations program, Toronto booked world bows for Mike Mills' "Beginners," starring Christopher Plummer as a father coming out of the closet, and forcing his son, played by Ewan McGregor, to reconsider his own relationships, French director Eric Lartigau's "The Big Picture," Rowan Joffe's "Brighton Rock," based on Graham Greene's 1938 novel, and the Hilary Swank-starrer "Conviction," from director Tony Goldwyn. Also bowing in Toronto is "Trust," David Schwimmer dark drama that stars Clive Owen, Catherine Keener and Tom McCarthy, Indian director Kiran Rao's "Dhobi Ghat," Will Gluck's "Easy A," and Malcolm Venville's "Henry's Crime," starring Keanu Reeves, Vera Farmiga and James Caan,

And there's world bows for John Curran's "Stone," which stars Robert De Niro and Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich and Frances Conroy, and British director Richard Ayoade's "Submarine," and Michael Winterbottom's "The Trip," a road movie starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, and John Cameron Mitchell's "Rabbit Hole," a screen adaptation of the David Lindsay-Abaire starge play that Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart.

The high-profile sidebar will also unspool Mike Leigh's "Another Year," starring Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville and Ruth Sheen, "Biutiful," from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and starring Javier Bardem, Derek Cianfrance's "Blue Valentine," and "Buried," the Ryan Reynolds-starrer from Rodrigo Cortes.

There's also Special Presentations' North American bows for Sylvain Chomet's "The Illusionist," "The Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen," from Hong Kong filmmaker Andrew Lau, and an international premiere for Philip Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut, "Jack Goes Boating," which stars John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Amy Ryan and Seymour Hoffman. Toronto also booked an international premiere for "Love Crime," French director Alain Corneau's office politics drama starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier as mentor and ingenue.

Fest organizers concede the economic downturn has trimmed the sails of a host of traditional TIFF players, including the major studios, distributors and national film promotion agencies, especially in Europe.

At the same time, fest director Handling insisted Toronto remains a must-attend on the festival circuit, alongside Cannes.

"It (Toronto) will just change and modify, but not in a significant way.

There still needs to be a major meeting ground in North America for the international industry," Handling said.

The only new sidebar at Toronto this year is the "TIFF for Free" program, where classic movies that launched in Toronto, including "The Big Chill," "Roadkill," "Water" and "Crash" will unspool at Bell Lightbox, the year-round festival headquarters set to open on Sept. 12.

TIFF co-director Cameron Bailey also hinted Tuesday at a possible 3D movie screening in Toronto, although no booking was unveiled.

The Toronto International Film Festival, set to run from Sept. 9 to 19, will make additional programming announcements over the coming weeks.
-The Hollywood Reporter