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The project, The 81⁄2 Foundation, would introduce children to the best of world cinema when they reach the age of eight-and-a-half, in the same way the Oscar-winning actress hopes the 81⁄2 Film Festival she and former Edinburgh Film Festival director Mark Cousins are running in a disused bingo hall in her home town of Nairn will stimulate wider interest in the world of film.
The idea was unveiled by Ms Swinton and Mr Cousins in the first film to be screened at their film festival on Friday, a short piece filmed in part at Ms Swinton’s Nairn home and showing the Ballerina Ballroom before its transformation into the “Cinema of Dreams”.
In the film Ms Swinton reads a letter addressed to her eight-and-a-half year old son Xavier, inspired by his asking what people’s dreams were like before cinema and going on to talk about her belief in the imaginative strength of film.
In reply, Mr Cousins writes a letter addressed to his own eight-and-a-half-year-old self about his love of film, but fears that innovative and unusual films are being squeezed out of film-goers’ perception by high profile blockbusters.
“Tying Tilda’s thoughts and mine together, I wish for this: something called the 81⁄2 Foundation,” he states.
“A trust, based in Scotland, perhaps where Tilda and I live, which would make 20 films available for free on DVD to children around the world, on their 81⁄2 birthday, their movie day.”
Speaking afterwards, Mr Cousins confirmed the foundation was something he and Ms Swinton wanted to see come into being and like the film festival could start off in Ms Swinton’s home area.
“Tilda’s really enthusiastic,” Mr Cousins said. “It’s like we’re trying to create a little bit of activism for films.”
Mr Cousins revealed he did something similar privately. “When a friend has a child I put a DVD in a box and give it to them on condition it’s not opened until their seventh birthday. It creates a sense of anticipation,” he said.
Funding would have to be found and details worked out, but Mr Cousins was optimistic the foundation would go ahead in some form.
“For such things you have to pilot it somewhere and it would be nice to pilot it here,” he said. “I’ve been doing some work in northern Iraq and it would be good to start off there and here.”
