The Toronto International Film Festival opens on Thursday with a gala presentation of "Fugitive Pieces," Canadian director Jeremy Podeswa's take on the story of a Polish man haunted by childhood memories from World War Two.

One of the world's top movie festivals, TIFF is in its 32nd year. While it dovetails with the more glamorous Venice festival in Italy, and showcases some of the same movies, Toronto is a key launching point for North American premieres and for movies vying to win Oscars.

This year's roster comprises 349 films from 55 countries screening over 10 days, including directing debuts for Helen Hunt, who won an acting Oscar in "As Good as it Gets," with "Then She Found Me," and for Alison Eastwood, daughter of Clint, who is screening "Rails and Ties."

"Toronto is going to be a first place for a lot of the Oscar contenders," said Pete Hammond, a film critic for Maxim magazine and a veteran Oscar handicapper.

"It is extremely important in getting the critical support right out there, and somehow getting attention from the 340 other movies that are in the festival."

Films already tipped for the Oscar race include "Elizabeth, the Golden Age," in which Cate Blanchett revisits her acclaimed role as Britain's Queen Elizabeth I from the 1998 movie "Elizabeth." Brad Pitt looks to generate heat for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."

BEYOND THE HYPE

But festivals like Toronto's help critics see beyond promotional hype. Hammond said that while there are many award contenders ahead of the festival, he can find no obvious front-runners amid a group of movies with sobering stories.

"A lot of the movies that are going to be in Toronto this year are very dark. There's a lot of violence and a lot of political content," he said.

Heavier political offerings include "Rendition," starring Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, and "In the Valley of Elah," from "Crash" director Paul Haggis, which offer unique takes on attempts to fight terrorism and the human toll of war.

Darker subjects surface in "Eastern Promises," a tale of organized crime in London starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts, and "Shake Hands with the Devil," which dramatizes a book by Canadian peacekeeper Romeo Dallaire about the genocide in Rwanda -- with Rwandan President Paul Kagame tipped as a possible guest.

"Michael Clayton," stars George Clooney as a lawyer fixer, while Sean Penn directs "Into the Wild," with rising star Emile Hirsch as the student who tries to survive in the Alaskan wilderness.

U.S. politics is represented with "Man from Plains," a documentary about former President Jimmy Carter, and "Captain Mike across America," showing maverick moviemaker Michael Moore as he tours American college campuses with an anti-Bush message ahead of the 2004 presidential election.

The festival closes on September 15 on a somber note and a return to the World War Two theme. "Emotional Arithmetic" tells of survivors from the Drancy internment camp outside Paris, from which many were sent to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps.

Moviegoers, rather than industry experts, will select the winning film with the coveted People's Choice Award.