The 38th Toronto International Film Festival expressed assurance of a heavy dose of Oscar temptation as well as celebrities. Interestingly, it's accompanying past Academy Award winners Meryl Streep, Colin Firth as well as Julia Roberts all anticipated in town for the 11-day event, which commences on September 5.

Greatly well thought out the kick-off to Oscar season, the 2013 festival will feature 146 world premieres, including talked-about new films from acclaimed Canadian directors Paul Haggis and Denis Villeneuve. The full programme was released on Tuesday. Streep along with Roberts are set to walk the red carpet for the world premiere of the John Wells film August: Osage County,which is an adaptation from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play and is so soon the source of much early Oscar buzz. Firth takes on the lead role in The Railway Man, the true story of a British soldier who was captured by Japanese troops in World War Two and remained haunted by his captivity. Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, the film also stars Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman.

(AW:Samrat Biswas)