Matt Lloyd, co-director of the 6th Inverness Film Festival which begins at Eden Court on Wednesday , also helped film star Tilda Swinton and former Edinburgh International Film Festival director Mark Cousins manage their Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams in the former Nairn ballroom and bingo hall in August.

"What's exciting is that it's not just Nairn, but Cromarty Film Festival is coming up in December and Elgin is thinking of one," Mr Lloyd said.

"I'd like to see almost a monthly film festival round the Moray Firth."

As further evidence there is no rivalry between the film festivals, Swinton will have a strong presence at the Inverness Film Festival both on screen and in person.

Lloyd said he and co-director Paul Taylor, Eden Court's regular film programmer, had wanted to pay tribute to what she had done for Highland film culture in what had been a great year for the actress.

She won an Oscar for "Michael Clayton", worked for top directors the Coen Brothers, Roman Polanski and Jim Jarmusch and of course staged her own week-long celebration of film at Nairn, which brought cineophiles from around the world to the Moray Firth.

Swinton will make a personal appearance in Inverness to introduce the opening gala screening of what is regarded as her break through film "Orlando". Made by director Sally Potter in 1992 and based on a Virginia Woolf novel, Swinton stars as an Elizabethan nobleman who stays eternally young — but changes sex.

Lloyd recalled seeing the film at 16.

"It was probably the film that turned me on to films that weren't Hollywood," he said.

"'Orlando' was the film that brought Tilda into the spotlight for most of us who were not big Derek Jarman fans."

Dana (Steve Coogan) and his class in 'Hamlet 2'.

Closing the festival film will be Swinton's latest leading role, "Julia", the first English language feature from French director Erick Zonca, in which she plays an alcoholic who kidnaps a 10-year-old boy and runs away to Mexico.

"Tilda doesn't leave the screen. It's an extraordinary rollercoaster, It's heartbreaking, but at the same time it's a thriller," Lloyd said.

However, Eden Court director Colin Marr, who praised the two directors for coming up with a great line up, warned that Swinton's influence would not extend to adopting the Nairn pricing policy of exchanging homebaking for cinema tickets or providing bean bags and deck chairs for patrons.

International films include Scottish premieres for Steve Coogan comedy "Hamlet 2", director Michael Winterbottom's drama "Genova" with Colin Firth, German climbing film "North Face" and psychological thriller "The Broken", while the documentary element is led by "Crawford", looking at how having President Bush for a neighbour has affected a small Texan town, and "Trip To Asia" following conductor Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic on tour to China.

Lloyd suggested the Hollywood writers strike of last year had had an impact on the number of quality US films available, but the 20 screenings and dozen Scottish films also include films from Germany, Guinea, Sweden, Israel, Poland, Belgium and Japan.

Films with strong Scottish links include shorts from documentary maker Ben Rivers, including one made in the Inverness area, a documentary from Sutherland-based producer Margaret Matheson, "Senseless", the debut feature from Scottish director Simon Hynd and a 25th anniversary screening of Bill Forsyth's comedy "Local Hero", which was filmed in Wester Ross and Pennan in Aberdeenshire.

Special events include masterclasses in cinematography and sound recording from Scottish experts, film-making, make-up and acting workshops and a one-man show by leading silent movie pianist Neil Brand.

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