A whopping number of 343 movies (255 features and 88 shorts) will be featured at Toronto International Film Festival, which is set to attract top cinema talents and their works from across the world.

Features that are World, International or North American Premieres are 138, 22 and 72 respectively, while the total submissions are international-6846 and Canadian-1080. Eighty three countries will be represented at the global event.

Among the films, 34 per cent are by women and 11 films are about musicians. Three films are by actors making their directorial debut: Bradley Cooper, Paul Dano, Jonah Hill.

There will be 1,107.5 Feet of red carpet — more than twice the height of the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Three thousand enthusiastic festival volunteers will be there, while 3,100 pounds of popcorn kernel will be prepared at TIFF Bell Lightbox during the Festival.

More than 14,000 members and donors support TIFF year-round and interestingly, three couples have met in TIFF lines that have since married.

Festival tickets go on sale September 3 at 10 am (TIFF Member pre-sale September 1 from 10am to 4pm). Tickets can be bought online at tiff.net, by phone at 416.599.TIFF or 1.888.599.8433, or in person at a box office. See box office locations and hours at tiff.net/tickets.

TIFF is a charitable cultural organization whose mission is to transform the way people see the world through film. An international leader in film culture, TIFF projects include the annual Toronto International Film Festival in September; TIFF Bell Lightbox, which features five cinemas, major exhibitions, and learning and entertainment facilities; and innovative national distribution program Film Circuit.

The organization generates an annual economic impact of $189 million CAD. TIFF Bell Lightbox is generously supported by contributors including Founding Sponsor Bell, the Province of Ontario, the Government of Canada, the City of Toronto, the Reitman family (Ivan Reitman, Agi Mandel and Susan Michaels), The Daniels Corporation and RBC.