The stars align for the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival

It’s that time of year again! After months of anticipation and speculation, the Toronto International Film Festival formally announced a big chunk of its heavy hitting 2013 lineup on Tuesday morning.

As predicted, potential Oscar contenders like “12 Years A Slave,” “August: Osage County,” “The Fifth Estate,” “Rush,” and “Devil’s Knot” were among the 16 galas and 55 special presentations revealed by the fest. In addition to being big on prestige pictures, the impressive lineup (which only represents about a quarter of the total films set to play TIFF this year) is big on star power. As usual, TIFF’s red carpet galas will play host to some of the best and brightest acting talent on the planet.

Although the festival hasn’t yet announced its official list of attendees, films appearing as part of the Gala and Special Presentation programmes feature countless A-listers and Oscar-winners. Among the top-tier talent likely to make a TIFF 2013 appearance are George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, Colin Firth, Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Fassbender, Jessica Chastain, Josh Brolin, Liam Neeson, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, and Ewan McGregor.

Other potential attendees include movie vets like Jeff Goldblum, Nicolas Cage, Keanu Reeves, Matthew McConaughey, Jude Law, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Viola Davis, and Paul Giamatti, as well as younger stars like James Franco, Olivia Wilde, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hiddleston, Daniel Radcliffe, and Jesse Eisenberg. TIFF 2013 will also feature a posthumous appearance by actor James Gandolfini, whose new film “Enough Said” will make its world premiere in Toronto.

Homegrown stars will come home to roost for TIFF as well. Toronto-born funny man Mike Myers will premiere his directorial debut "Supermensch The Legend of Shep Gordon," while Canuck talents with films at TIFF (such as Taylor Kitsch, Jay Baruchel, Sarah Gadon, Catherine O’Hara, and Gordon Pinsent) are sure to make red carpet appearances.

For those more interested in films and filmmakers than celebrities, TIFF’s 2013 lineup also features a selection of new work from some of the top directorial talents working today, including Ron Howard, Jason Reitman, Paul Haggis, Alfonso Cuarón, Jim Jarmusch, Stephen Frears, Atom Egoyan, Steve McQueen, David Gordon Green, Kelly Reichardt, Asghar Farhadi, Denis Villeneuve, François Ozon, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

Who or what are you most looking forward to seeing at TIFF 2013?

The 38^th Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 5 to 15.