Sir Elton John has made his first public appearance at Toronto international film festival, days after announcing a severe eye infection had left him with limited vision in one eye.

The British singer, 77, was pictured in good spirits as he arrived on the back of a buggy at the Canadian festival, alongside his husband, David Furnish.

The pair, modelling different shades of burgundy suits, arrived for the world premiere of documentary film Elton John: Never Too Late from co-directors RJ Cutler and Furnish.

It is billed as a portrait of the singer as he “looks back on his life and forward to a climactic farewell show at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium”.

The film begins at the same stadium but in 1975, when he played to more than 100,000 fans over two nights.

The documentary features interviews with never-before-seen archival footage and photographs, as well as documenting the love story John found with Furnish.

After the film was screened, John became overwhelmed with emotion, telling the audience: “The thing I love about this movie is that I have him [Furnish] and I have my two sons.

“I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved,” he said, pausing to hold back his tears. And I will hope to keep making music, but I want to be at home with them and see them and treasure them. It’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever had in my life, more than having a first number one album on Billboard, yeah, that was really nice for about five minutes, but this is a lifetime.”

The singer also reportedly made a joke about his eye, telling the audience: “I’m having the best time of my life – except this fucking eye. I wish I could see you,” according to Variety.

His appearance at the world premiere comes days after he shared the health announcement with almost 5 million fans on Instagram.

“Over the summer, I’ve been dealing with a severe eye infection that has unfortunately left me with only limited vision in one eye,” he wrote.

“I am healing, but it’s an extremely slow process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.

“I am so grateful for the excellent team of doctors and nurses and my family, who have taken such good care of me over the last several weeks.

“I have been quietly spending the summer recuperating at home, and am feeling positive about the progress I have made in my healing and recovery thus far.”

The Toronto film festival was also attended by stars including Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield at the premiere of We Live In Time, while Tom Hiddleston, Karen Gillan and Chiwetel Ejiofor were promoting their new sci-fi film The Life Of Chuck.