TIFF seeks to evolve and stay relevant as it opens with The Magnificent Seven

Antoine Fuqua'sThe Magnificent Sevenkicks off the Toronto International Film Festival Thursday, where almost400 films areready tounspoolfor movie-lovers gathering in downtown Toronto.

The high-profile Hollywood movie starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt revisits the story told in the original 1960s western as well as the Akira Kurosawa film (The Seven Samurai) that inspired it, but director Fuqua puts a different spin on the tale, according to TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey.

"There's a much stronger role for female characters in thisMagnificent Seven," saidBailey."It's a much more diverse range of the characters'ethnicities, reflecting what the Old West was actually like.

"You often didn't see those clearly in classic westerns of the last century, but you do now, because this is a western for 2016," headded.

Fuqua might be successful at reinventing an old theme, but all eyes are on another filmmakerwhose work might not be easily separated from controversy about his past.

The Birth of a Nation,about Nat Turner's life and the 1831 American slave rebellion he led, was lauded at Sundance and is destined to be an audience favourite.But its success has been overshadowed by a rape allegation against Nate Parker, who wrote, directed and stars in the film.

Parker was acquitted in 2001, butrecently admitted he was wrong in how he treated women at the time, and said he didn't understand the idea of consent.

• 'I was a dog': Birth of a Nation's Nate Parker addresses rape case controversy

TIFF still plans to screen the film and a press conference with the talent is scheduled.

Camaraderie, controversy, competition

TIFF is "alittle bit like the Olympics," according to itsCEO, Piers Handling, though he's referringto the camaraderiemorethan any controversy.

"People from 83 countries are coming to this festival: filmmakers, film artists, buyers, sellers, some of the key, most important film talent in the world," Handling told CBC News.

But there's also fierce competition that comes along with a festival as big as this one.

TIFF has developed a reputation for beingabellwether for awards-season kudos. The films 12 Years a Slave, The King's Speech and Slumdog Millionaire, all of which went on to win best picture Oscars, were firstrecognized with People's Choice Awardsin Toronto during the years they were screened.But the film festival circuit is a crowded one.

The Telluride Film Festival in Colorado is gaining momentum with its pre-TIFF slot on the calendar, and the Venice Film Festival'sfinal days overlapwith the beginning ofTIFF this year. Buzzworthy moviesbeing presented at TIFF, such asCanadian director Denis Villeneuve's Arrival andthe musical La La Landstarring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone have already had their world premieres at those festivals.

But there are other films audiences haven't seen yet.Snowden, starring Joseph-Gordon Levitt as the NSA whistleblower, and the big-budgetDeepwater Horizon, about the 2010 oil rig explosion inthe Gulf of Mexico, have world premieres at TIFF.

"One of the greatest challenges is always just maintaining relevance," said Bailey."You have to evolve. You have to constantly change."

Fisher Stevens's climate change documentary with Leonardo DiCaprio, called Before the Flood,will make its global debut in Toronto.

So willVoyage of Time: The IMAX Experience, a 45-minute version ofTerrenceMalick'shistory-of-the-world documentary, narrated by Brad Pitt. A feature-length version of the same filmpremiered in Venice.

Expandingperspectives

This year, TIFF is also exploring virtual reality, expandingto showcase new television series andputting a spotlight onone of the world'slesser-knownhotbeds of filmmaking: Lagos, Nigeria.

In the same vein, DavidOyelowo, who was born in Britain and is of Nigerian heritage, wants to see more filmsportray Africa in a fresh light.

He stars in another anticipated movie:MiraNair'sQueen ofKatwealongside LupitaNyong'o,about a young Ugandan girl trying to become a world chess champion.

Oyelowo is hoping the film will show a different side ofa continent often stereotyped, even in films that have been praised by critics and audiences.

"I developed this desire to just have more breadth of what you'd seen out of Africa," Oyelowo told The Associated Press."The Last King of Scotlandwas part of a crop of films like The Constant Gardener,Hotel Rwanda,Blood Diamond,and they were all about the darker side of what happens on that continent. All of which is true. Like anywhere, there's good and bad. But there was almost nothing else balancing it out."

The film festival has taken pride in beinga more publicly accessible festival compared with most on the circuit, butpeople don't have to go to see the latest movies in the theatre anymore.Sofestivals have to offer something more.

"There's something special about watching a film for the first time, with the filmmaker present, with an audience around you," Baileysaid. "You can laugh and cry and gasp together in a cinema. That's what festivals do."

TIFF continues through Sept. 18.