Brad Pitt's celebrated film Babel and several other smashes at Cannes will be among the dozens of North American premieres at September's Toronto International Film Festival.

Festival organizers said Tuesday that 26 films that debuted at major festivals worldwide will come to Toronto for the annual movie marathon, running Sept. 7 to 16.

Pitt's multi-lingual film Babel, which weaves the stories of four disparate groups from three continents, garnered Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (21 Grams) the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

Festival co-director Noah Cowan said organizers went out of their way to select films from primarily European festivals.

"We bring these films back to our continent for a 'second unveiling,"' Cowan said Tuesday in a release.

"They are films that have moved us, by way of their beauty, originality and overall cinematic achievement."