TORONTO — "Some films, you can just tell from the beginning that they're something special," said a woman behind me after the screening of the made-in-Seattle documentary "The Heart of the Game." Ward Serrill's documentary about the Roosevelt High School girls basketball team had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday. An enthusiastic audience applauded the ball-playing sequences, sighed at unexpected turns of events, jeered the film's few villains and gave a standing ovation to Darnellia Russell, the Roosevelt star player whose eventful four years on the team make up the film's heart.

Now tightly edited, polished and scored (the version screened at the Seattle International Film Festival earlier this year was a work-in-progress version), "The Heart of the Game" is vivid and often thrilling in its look at a population too rarely seen: teenage girl athletes unafraid to mix it up. "There is nothing more fun than watching you guys play basketball," says coach Bill Resler in the film, and he's right: These players are fearless, and their joy in the physicality of the game is infectious.

Russell, looking elegant in heels rather than basketball sneakers, shyly told the crowd, during a post-screening Q and A that it took a while to get accustomed to Serrill's presence over the years of filming. "I was wondering why this man was following us around all the time," she said. Though she admitted it was difficult to revisit a rocky period of her life in the film, she's ultimately pleased with how it turned out. "I like the film. I think it's nice," she said, to loud applause.

Other Seattleites whom Serrill introduced to the Toronto crowd were Resler, who arrived in his trademark Roosevelt Roughriders T-shirt and gray sweats, and Russell's mother, April Swafford. Both received warm ovations, as did Serrill. "There are some things you only get to say once in your life," said the filmmaker to the audience, savoring the moment. "Welcome to the world premiere of 'The Heart of the Game.' "

The film has definitely caught the attention of the media, with several publications, including Variety, singling it out as likely to be acquired for distribution during the fest. While no deal has been finalized yet, the "Heart of the Game" gang is basking in plenty of media attention, including interviews over the weekend with Roger Ebert and ESPN Hollywood, and a photo shoot with Premiere magazine. "It's a magic-carpet ride," said Serrill, at the noisy "Heart of the Game" party Sunday night.

There are, of course, films from places other than Seattle at this vast festival, which continues for 10 days at venues all over downtown. One of the most eagerly awaited was Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," an adaptation of the Annie Proulx short story about two Wyoming cowboys in love, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. The film, which just won the grand prize at the Venice Film Festival, is a quiet, beautifully acted and elegantly spare drama. Ledger is especially good, with an unrecognizable new voice from somewhere deep within his chest, and a look of yearning that manages to be tough and wistful at the same time.

Though the two films would seem to have little in common, "Brokeback Mountain" made me think of Lee's "Sense and Sensibility," in its depiction of a society with a rigid code of behavior, full of words that can't be spoken. And speaking of that film, a lively new Jane Austen film debuted this week: "Pride & Prejudice," directed by Joe Wright. It doesn't quite touch Lee's film for me (which remains my favorite Austen adaptation), but has plenty to enjoy: a spirited lead performance by Keira Knightley, glorious settings throughout the English countryside, charming chemistry between Brenda Blethyn and Donald Sutherland as the long-suffering parents Mr. and Mrs. Bennet — and, of course, lots of pretty frocks.

Meanwhile, on the streets, the festival has taken over downtown to a startling extent, with the windows of Birk's (a posh Canadian jewelry store, similar to Tiffany's) decorated this week in a "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" Goth theme, and the floral arrangements in the ladies room at the Inter-Continental Hotel decked out with strips of film interspersed among the greenery. Yesterday I paused at a modest newsstand just in time to hear a guy explain, to anyone who would listen, that it's very cool that the movie "Mrs. Harris" is in the festival, because that's his mom's name.

The Inter-Continental, by the way, remains the best spot in town for stargazing. A few minutes in the lobby netted sightings of Jeff Bridges, Ed Harris, Cameron Bright (that intense-looking kid from "Birth," who's at the festival with the very funny satire "Thank You for Smoking") and one of those I-know-she's-famous blondes, whose name should be occurring to me any day now.

And in the elevator, it took a moment before I realized that the nattily dressed gentleman talking on his cellphone (beginning with a casual "Hi, it's Tony") was indeed Anthony Hopkins. This made the elevator ride, however brief, take on the feeling of a Merchant-Ivory film, albeit one on a rather small set.

Next up: star turns and Oscar buzz for Charlize Theron, Judi Dench, Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman; Bob Hoskins goes full frontal; and my own up-close-and-personal accidental encounter with Orlando Bloom. (Reader, he nodded at me.) Stay tuned.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com