The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival is set to open on Thursday, with "Borg/McEnroe." More than 250 films will be screened during the 10 days of the festival, which plays an increasingly important role in the world of cinema. Here is a selection of six of them which will be first seen in Canada.

The Upside

The American remake of the 2011 French movie "Intouchables" will be shown for the first time ahead of its release in theaters, which is slated for March 9. Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart will take over from François Cluzet and Omar Sy in the original version. They will be accompanied by Nicole Kidman and Julianna Margulies. At the same time, the directors of the French version, Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, will also be in Toronto to present their latest comedy "Le Sens de la fête," which at the Canadian festival will be screened under the title "C'est la vie!"

Kings

In the wake of her success with "Mustang," which showed in Cannes in 2015, Franco-Turkish director Deniz Gamze Ergüven's first English-language film “Kings” has been selected for Toronto. Daniel Craig and Halle Berry feature in this family story set in Los Angeles in 1992, just a few weeks before the city was thrown into chaos by the riots that followed the death of Rodney King.

Stronger

Another feature based on a true story, “Stronger” recounts the life of Jeff Bauman, a victim of the 2013 Boston bombings. Jake Gyllenhaal will play Bauman who was seriously injured by the explosion of one of the bombs planted close to the finish line of the marathon in which his girlfriend was running. The American, who lost both his legs, became a symbol of the courage of the United States when he helped the authorities identify the two perpetrators of the attacks. David Gordon Green's film will be released in North American theaters just after the festival on Sept. 22.

Mary Shelley

The second film by Haifaa al-Mansour, the first woman filmmaker to emerge from Saudi Arabia, will recount an 18th century love story between poet Percy Shelley and his wife Mary Shelley, the author of the novel "Frankenstein." Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth and Maisie Williams, the young star from "Game of Thrones," will feature in the biopic.

The Mountains Between Us

Charlie Hunnam and Rosamund Pike were initially cast to play opposite each other in this adaptation of the novel by Charles Martin. However, Idris Elba and Kate Winslet finally took on the roles of two air crash survivors, who will have to help each other to stay alive in a hostile environment of snow covered mountains. The film is due for release in North American theaters on Oct. 6.

Breathe

In his directorial debut, actor Andy Serkis tells the true story of Robin Cavendish, an English man who was paralyzed by polio at age 28. With the help of his wife and his friend Teddy, who built him a special wheelchair, Cavendish went on to change the lives of thousands of handicapped people around the world. Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy play the lead roles in the biopic which is due for release on October 13.