Tilda Swinton & A Plate of Brownies

Leonard Pierce — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:45:00 GMT

Tilda Swinton didn't get a reputation as being one of the quirkiest women in the movie business by doing things the easy way. She's almost always chosen the odd role, the unusal acting choice, the baffling if ever so charming interview: in the absence of Bjork actually making any more movies, which she has vowed not to do after having been traumatized by Lars Von Trier in Dancer in the Dark, Tilda Swinton fills the role of the Bjork of the motion picture industry.

So it stands to reason that when she dipped her toe into the overcrowded world of film festivals, it wouldn't be your typical red carpet affair. Next month, Swinton and her collaborator, Mark Cousins, will be debuting the Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams festival in her hometown of Nairn, Scotland. Admission will be three British pounds or a tray of baked goods (out of which an effigy of Michael Powell will be made); seating will be in beanbag chairs; and the theme of the festival, if it has one, is films with "highly colored, dreamlike elements." Cousins describes the festival as "having an element of punk about it", and says that the focus will be on mood and tone rather than celebrity-sighting and premiere-mania.

While the program for the Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams Festival has yet to be announced, it's known that Joel Coen will be selecting the films on two nights of its run, so it should, if nothing else, be a cinephile's dream come true. Additionally, prior ot a screening of All About Eve, there will be a screening of...a Bjork video. Well of course there will.

The Screengrab : ballerina ballroom cinema of dreams festival

Tilda Swinton & A Plate of Brownies