HOLLYWOOD—Hollywood folks used to call Toronto Film Festival “Hollywood North” because of all the films being shown there. The Toronto International Film Festival, which is referred to as TIFF, is a major public film festival held every September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The festival was founded back in 1976, and has grown to become one of the most prestigious and popular film festivals in the world with an annual attendance over 260,000 people, according to published reports. Film festivals are always anticipated. Cinema fans keep track of such events and dream of being present. Film festivals allow the first time filmmakers to sway broad listeners; they empower the art of film making and praise the hard work of film producers and their teams.

Toronto International Film Festival is second only to Cannes. Other prominent film festivals include Sundance and Venice Film Festival, which ended on September 12. The Toronto International Film Festival kicked off on September 10, and ends on September 20. Every year, it cheerfully lays out the red carpet for thousands of film critics, gossip columnists, celebrity gawkers and just plain folk.

Yes, Hollywood, isn’t just dropping in to watch great films; alas, just eagerly getting an early glimpse at what the next three months of movies and next year’s movie-awards are going to look like. So let’s begin, with Johnny Depp playing Boston crime kingpin Whitey Bulger in “Black Mass,” which could be a great long-overdue comeback for an actor with incredible talent. Then there are Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton in “Our Brand is Crisis,” and Michael Keaton in “Spotlight.”

So what are the fall movies to see? “Black Mass,” a Boston true-crime story with Depp starring as Whitey Bulger, the cold-eyed criminal who ran an Irish gang and murdered with impunity—because, he says, the FBI looked the other way. The drama opens on September 18.

The movie “Everest,” the real-life adventure set in the Himalayas, stars Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal and other stars as they battle the elements and their own desperation against a breathtakingly beautiful backdrop. Brolin rarely disappoints and Gyllenhaal has been on a roll lately. Director Baltasar Kormakur has a skill for capturing amazing visuals. The film opens September 25.

Another news-driven story: The tale of how, in 1974, a French aerialist named Philippe Petit strung a cable between the Twin Towers and went for perambulation. “The Walk,” stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon and many more. The movie opens on October 9.

“The Martian” stars Matt Damon, Kate Mara, Kristin Wiig, Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena and Sean Bean. The film, another space flick, is bound to offer great cinematography. Based on Andy Weir’s best-selling 2011 novel and directed by Ridley Scott, the film is being released on October 2.

In the drama “By The Sea,” set in the 70s, a former dancer and her husband travel through France together as they seem to grow apart. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie team for the first time since “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” as a married couple on vacation coping with loss and a troubled marriage. The film is scheduled to be released on November 13.

On November 20, the film “Secret in Their Eyes,” stars Julia Roberts, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Nicole Kidman. The daughter of an FBI agent (Roberts) is murdered, and her partner (Ejiofor) spends years looking for enough evidence to convict the killer before the agent takes matters into her own hands.

That same day, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2” will be released. With an all-cast film starring Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Julianne Moore, Donald Sutherland and many more, we are excited to see the grand finale of the blockbuster franchise.

Rose’s Scoop: Director Kevin Smith has confirmed he will film the sequel to “Mallrats” at the Exton Square Mall in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Clint Eastwood will begin filming in New Jersey for his latest movie, “Sully,” an account of the pilot who landed his crippled jetliner on the Hudson River without any loss of life.