Brad Pitt on Oceans 13 Set

"The festival's tentacles are truly in every part of the world," said festival director Piers Handling.

Among the movies premiering are "All the King's Men,' starring Penn in a remake of the classic film about the rise and fall of a Southern politician, and German director Werner Herzog's "Rescue Dawn," about an American airman who escapes from a Laotian prison during the Vietnam War.

Also being screened is Ridley Scott's 'A Good Year," starring Crowe and Albert Finney about a British businessman who takes a year off in Provence.

Red-carpet treatment will be given to "The Journals of Knud Rasmussen," directed by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn, which will kick off the festival and "Dixie Chicks: Shut up and Sing," one of the more politically-charged offerings.

The film focuses on the aftermath and fallout of Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines' criticism of President Bush at a concert in London in 2003.

"The Journals" is based on the writings of a 1920s Danish ethnographer about the clash of cultures between European Arctic explorers and Inuit natives.

"Not only do our selections have a big impact (on) ... the Oscars and the Golden Globes, but increasingly the biggest directors and stars are coming here to Toronto to introduce their new films to audiences for the first time and to secure distribution," said festival co-director Noah Cowan.

The festival will include Spike Lee's four-hour documentary "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" which tells the story of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.