The Irish animated feature film Song of the Sea had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Saturday, with its director, Cartoon Saloon's Tomm Moore, telling RTÉ TEN that the screening was "fantastic".

Based around the legend of the Selkies, Song of the Sea follows the adventures of Saoirse and her brother Ben.

It features the voices of Lucy O'Connell, David Rawle, Lisa Hannigan, Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan, Jon Kenny, Pat Shortt, Liam Hourican and Colm Ó Snodaigh.

Moore, who also directed Cartoon Saloon's Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells, said that he was "pretty nervous" before the premiere and "didn't sleep too well" on Friday night.

"But once the film played and people responded well I relaxed loads," he said.

"We had a great Q&A session afterwards with lots of feedback from the kids. It was about two-thirds adults and the rest were kids. There were plenty of animation fans there because it was a film festival screening."

On the talking points for younger viewers, Moore said: "They had loads of questions, especially about the characters, like Pru the Dog and the different fairy characters and Saoirse the Selkie - they seemed to be really intrigued by it all.

"There were a certain amount of people interested in the Irish aspect of it and asking more detailed questions about the mythology that it was all based on."

He continued: "The rest of it was [people] just responding generally to the music and the overall film. So hopefully it will transcend its Irishness and people will be able to enjoy it."

Song of the Sea receives its European premiere at the London Film Festival next month. It will be released in France in November and North America in December, with an Irish release planned for February or March 2015.

"Let the film hopefully do a bit of business abroad, and then hopefully Irish people will trust us [enough] that they will actually come out and see it when we release it in Ireland!" laughed Moore.

As for his own personal highlight during the Q&A, he replied: "The best question was the last question. They said, 'Time for one more...' A little girl put up her hand and her question was: 'I loved the film'."