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When Tilda Swinton announced she was about to start her very own film festival in her hometown. Many thought it would turn out to be like any other festival. But she seems to be making it the antithesis of th eglitz and glamour of Cannes. As it opened yesterday she had this to say “I did a rain dance last night and it seems to have worked. What better place to be on a rainy August afternoon than in a cinema?”

After her much publicized Oscar win last year for her film Michael Clayton. It has given her the time to give to the industry that offered her so much. The festival will run for the next 8 and a half days which is a fitting homage to Fedrico Fellini’s 8 and a half. She has called the festival The Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams and is helped by her curator the former Edinburgh International Film Festival director Mar Cousins, both of them have been trying to create a sort of state of cinema - one which exists as a state of mind without borders or policies or exclusion.

Swinton is already excited that all the 140 tickets for her opening night has been sold out. The opening film is the 1935 classic starring Gary Cooper and Ida Lupino called Peter Ibbetson.

This was surely cinema with a difference. It was a place where Charlie Chaplin is his hey days used to spend his summer holidays over here in Nairn. The ticket costs a modest 3 pounds and entry is free if you make your own fairy cakes. Swinton was the first to show up with some homemade cup cakes arriving shortly before the opening dressed in a pink cardigan and flip flops. The actress looked more mother hen than A-list Hollywood celebrity who has appeared alongside stars such as Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio and Keanu Reeves. She sort of got around with her family dog and gave everyone tea and serving cakes. The audience were seated in bright colored bean bags.

The local community has rallied round to lend support to their famous neighbour. She described her decision to stage the festival as “Quixotic”.
In the the three months of preparation the people of Nairn have transformed the disused building into cinema goers dream.

The news of the cinematic free state has the reached the ears of her friend actor George Clooney who might drop to take a look. There have also been people from different parts of the world coming to the festival to support Tilda’s ideas.

Tickets were sold in local bookshop and with people putting extra effort to ensure the festival turns out to be a grand success. So that many more people can see films she has grown to love. The film is a sort of homage to the works of Fellini. Many of the film have themes and instances from Fellin’s early work. But some of them are surely groudbreaking films of their time.