The curtain is about to be lifted for the start of The 35^th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), revealing an exciting line-up of Canadian and international film, from 9 to 19 September.

This year, almost 30 films produced or co-produced in the UK will be presented at TIFF. The list reveals a good mix of work by both established names and newcomers, including the latest from Brit veterans such as Mike Leigh, Stephen Frears and Ken Loach and London-shot features by Clint Eastwood and Woody Allen. These hard-hitting works sit alongside the debut feature from comedian Richard Ayoade, Tom Hooper's anticipated second film after The Damned United and Sophie Fiennes's acclaimed documentary Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow.

The festival's non-competitive and public-focused spirit, coupled with its place in the industry's calendar -right in time to kick-start the 'Oscar buzz'- makes TIFF one of the first and foremost platforms for international film-makers to showcase their work in a welcoming and relaxed environment.

Old and New Masters

A large proportion of the British 'convoy' will be received at TIFF 2010 in a series of Special Presentations. These include Mike Leigh's drama Another Year and Stephen Frears's adaptation of comic strip Tamara Drewe (both following their European debuts in Cannes back in May), Nigel Cole's anticipated Made in Dagenham and Roland Joffe's remake of Brighton Rock - all London-shot features. Other works to receive Special Presentations at TIFF are Clint Eastwood's supernatural thriller Hereafter and Woody Allen's latest comedy You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, both of which also shot in the capital.

Also part of the Special Presentations programme will be Mark Romanek's adaptation of best seller Never Let Me Go, a coming-of-age story starring Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan, Let Me In, the UK-backed remake of Swedish horror hit Let The Right One In, Miral, by artist-turned-film-maker Julian Schnabel, and Cirkus Columbia, a co-production with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Finally, comedian Richard Ayoade, best known for his role as geeky Moss in Channel 4's The IT Crowd, will see his debut feature Submarine being presented to North American audiences in this section.

Highlighting stories from often remote corners of the globe, TIFF's Contemporary World Cinema strand will include screenings of Justin Chadwick's Kenyan-set The First Grader and Neds -by actor-director Peter Mullan- as well as animated Brit co-productions Chico & Rita and The Illusionist. Drama I Am Slave will also be presented in the section, following its TV release in the UK in August, as will World Cup-inspired adventure tale Africa United and Tracker, a co-production with New Zealand.

In a similar vein, the Real to Reel programme will present an array of unscripted documentaries exploring topics of global and local relevance and giving access to fascinating lives. UK representation in this section is covered by Kim Longinotto's Pink Saris and Sarah McCarthy's The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical - both films offering distinctive and personal insights into problems in today's India.

London-shot The King's Speech, about the unorthodox friendship between George VI -the father of the current queen Elizabeth II- and one of his advisors, will have a Gala screening at Toronto this year, coupled with an address by the director Tom Hooper and cast members and followed with a Q&A. Also getting the red carpet treatment will be West is West, a sequel to the successful 1999 intercultural comedy East is East.

Personal Visions

Breaking ground at Toronto will be the Visions and Vanguard programmes, which present avant-garde and convention-defying film-making. This year includes musically-themed Moscow 11:19:31, by composer Michael Nyman, and Douglas Gordon's experimental tale k.364 A Journey by Train. Alien thriller Monsters and Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, Sophie Fiennes's filmic portrait of contemporary German artist Anselm Kiefer, are also part of the sections. Alongside these, Visions and Vanguard's 'sister' section, Future Projections, dedicated specifically to showcase the work by artist film-makers, will screen Otolith III - a London-shot work by artists The Otolith Group, supported by Film London Artists' Moving Image Network (FLAMIN).

Finally, honoured in the Masters section alongside names such as Portugal's Manuel de Oliveira or South Korea's Lee Changdong, will be Ken Loach with his latest film, Route Irish - a thriller about vengeance set in war-torn Iraq.

The 35^th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival will present 339 films from 59 countries over its ten-day run, an average of just over five titles per territory. The considerably higher number of British productions in the official selection -which follows very closely the number of Canadian films in the festival- comes as great news and as proof of the sustained and strong appeal of home-grown films and film-makers the other side of the Atlantic. Find out more about the full programme on the official festival website: http://tiff.net/thefestival.