EIFF 2001: Day 5

Tilda Swinton at The Deep End premiere.

by Trinity

Day 5 and the festival is in full swing. There are a lot of people in town: filmmakers, industry junkies, journos and even the odd film star.

Today we got to meet two British acting greats: Tilda Swinton and Jacqueline Bisset.

Tilda Swinton, surely one of the best Scottish actresses around, knows Edinburgh well - she was educated at Fettes College (the same school that prime minister Tony Blair went to).

It's easy to forget that physically she is an actress of some stature, as well as by reputation. When she stopped to pose for photographs on the red carpet, she made her two directors, David Siegel and Scott McGehee look on the short side.

Swinton is no stranger to difficult roles and took this one in her stride. The Deep End got a big thumbs up from our reviewer, with Angus Wolfe Murray praising the lead role with "Tilda Swinton gives a performance of such quality, it steals your breath away".

Jacqueline Bisset arrived later for the first screening of The Sleepy Time Gal. Her beauty has not diminished from her early outing in Cul De Sac, and a number of her fans were there, including veteran autograph hunter Ken, who can regularly be seen at these events.

You can normally tell which are the hot tickets for the festival by asking which of the industry preview screenings are the busiest. Whilst some films might only have a handful of people watching them, both Battle Royale and The Devil's Backbone were so popular people had to be turned away. These two are definitely ones to watch out for.

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