CARLISLE College students are staging a tribute to actress Tilda Swinton at this year’s Keswick Film Festival.

Tilda has agreed to be the subject of this year’s Patron’s Legacy Project, meaning that students from the UAL Foundation Diploma in Art and Design course are now busy creating films, posters, costumes and set designs inspired by her impressive film career.

The event, titled Cinephoria, to be held on Friday, February 28, in the Theatre by the Lake Studio, and will be free to enter. Organisers say an amazing afternoon of Cumbrian talent is guaranteed.

Visitors to the exhibition can purchase prints of the artwork on display. This year 50% of the proceeds will go to the Prospect Cottage appeal – contributing to the £3.5 million initiative to purchase and save film-maker Derek Jarman’s cottage.

Derek, who died in 1994 in London, was a key figure in Tilda’s early career, making the project close to her heart. It is also close to legendary costume designer Sandy Powell’s heart. Her autographed costume from the BAFTAs is to be auctioned for the same cause.

Within the festival programme, there are screenings of three of Tilda Swinton’s films over the weekend. She gives a barnstorming performance in The Personal History of David Copperfield, teams up with former festival patron Sir John Hurt and Tom Hiddleston in Only Lovers Left Alive and plays opposite her daughter Honor Swinton Byrne in Joanna Hogg’s much-lauded The Souvenir.

n The recent BAFTAs gave a strong indication of the quality of the programme for this year’s Keswick festival, which runs from February 27 to March 1.

The brilliant Parasite from Korean Director Bong Joon Ho, which won the category for ‘Best Film not in the English language’, is to be screened on Saturday, February 29.

The best documentary, For Sama, is to be screened in association with the Keswick Peace and Human Rights Group earlier that day. Both films picked up a host of other nominations.

Festival director Ian Payne said: “The quality and variety of films we have on offer is fantastic. I would urge people not to be put off by the fact that there are subtitles on a few of the films – after a few minutes you no longer notice them and become lost in the stories that unfold.”