The 37th Toronto International Film festival kicked off with the premiere of Hollywood actioner Looper at the Royal Thompson Hall in downtown Toronto. Director Rian Johnson introduced the stars of the movie Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt and Bruce Willis, who had earlier marched down the red carpet amid the screams of their fans.

Looper, which centers on an assassin  assigned to kill his time-travelling future self, is one of 370 movies to be screened at the 11-day event, including Ben Affleck’s political thriller Argo, David O’Russel’s Silver Lining Playbook, Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master and Tom Hank’s Cloud Atlas.

Since it’s inception, Toronto International Film Festival has become the largest film festival in the world and one of the most important after the Cannes Film Festival. Recent winners of the festival such as Slumdog Millionaire and The King’s Speech went on to win Golden Globes and Oscars, hence it’s regarded by the film industry as the trigger to the award season.

The festival is attended by a large number of film stars from Hollywood and beyond. The list of this year’s expected attendees includes Ben Affleck, Ryan Gosling, Robert Redford, Johnny Depp, Susan Sarandon, Joaquin Phoenix, Keira Knightley, Tom Hanks, Kristen Stewart, Ewan McGregor, and Gwyneth Paltrow, to name just a few.

But it was Kristen Stewart who stole the show last night when she arrived to the screening of her new movie On The Road at the Ryerson. It was the Twilight star’s first appearance since the news of her romance with the director of her last movie Snow White And The Hunstman broke in July. Visibly nervous with shaking legs, the young actress quickly regained her confidence when she was received warmly by cheering fans, who seem to have forgiven her for breaking the heart of her boyfriend Robert Pattinson, who is equally adored and idolised.