When the young Katherine Mathilda Swinton was growing up in the Borders, Edinburgh meant two things, both of them ordeals that many people would rather avoid: visits to the dentist, and watching Ronnie Corbett in pantomime at Christmas.

But she relished her visits because she loved the city's feel; its cinematic scope and dramatic skyline. And it was Edinburgh, and in particular its Filmhouse cinema, that showed the young Katherine Mathilda - now known the world over as Tilda Swinton, award-winning actress - what she wanted to be: a star of the screen, inspired by the obscure avant-garde movies she first saw in that small theatre on Lothian Road.

Now the 46-year-old, whose career moves with all of her distinctive feline grace between cult arthouse films and Hollywood blockbusters, has a position of note in Edinburgh society: she is the new patron of its International Film Festival (EIFF), which launched its 61st programme yesterday.

We speak as she relaxes at her Highland home, where she lives with her husband John Byrne - the artist, playwright and creator of Tutti Frutti - and their twins, Xavier and Honor. She has been busy. She has several upcoming films to promote, including a mainstream legal drama with George Clooney called Michael Clayton. There are also smaller, but to her no less important, works such as The Man from London, directed by Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr, and Strange Culture, a documentary she has helped make about her friend, the artist Steve Kurtz, who has been charged with bio-terrorism offences in the US. Both will be showing at this year's film festival.

Feeling at home in Scotland, she says, is essential to the health of her career. But how does she manage to work in Hollywood, appearing in mainstream movies such as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (as a riveting White Witch) or Constantine (as a superbly ambiguous Archangel Gabriel), while being based in Nairn?

"I don't know how people do it without living in Scotland - that's how I think of it," she says with a laugh. "How on earth do people go home to their houses in the middle of Beverly Hills after going through all that you need to make a film? I really don't know. The north of Scotland is so precious to me, and maybe if I didn't have this here, I wouldn't be able to do all of that.

"I don't desperately look for work, but then if someone like David Fincher or Spike Jonze calls me with something interesting, I might be keen. I haven't been in a movie for some time where I am in every frame, because it is such a commitment of time, but as the children get older I will do more of that. I like the sprints but I like the marathons, too."

Swinton, who speaks in a warm, unaccented voice, says she is proud of her Scottish roots. Indeed, her family is said to be one of the oldest in the country. She was born in London to a Scot, Sir John Swinton of Swinton, a major-general in the Scots Guards, and was taught for a time at Fettes College in Edinburgh. In her new role as patron of the EIFF she will be spending more time in the capital than usual this summer. "Now I am patron," she says, "I might even be able to get some tickets."

She says Scotland is getting more interesting all the time. "It will be even more interesting when England gains its independence from Scotland. I would not say I am a nationalist'. I am a realist. I have never understood why England doesn't want independence, but then again I do: it's because of all the oil.

"When I lived in England, in London, I always felt like an exile. What we have in Scotland, which you see in this festival, is this sense of internationalism, of welcoming others and looking beyond our borders."


SHE says she was "totally thrilled" when asked to be patron of the festival by its new artistic director, Hannah McGill. She is a firm fan of McGill, a former film critic of The Herald. "She has a nice, gleeful eye," Swinton says. "She completely knows her stuff, and she is a cine-enthusiast. I am impressed".

Swinton will now stand alongside the festival's long- standing patron, Sir Sean Connery, as one of its key ambassadors. It is an unlikely partnership - the iconic actor and quintessential 007 with a string of mainstream hits to his name, and the actress who made her name working for nearly 10 years with her mentor, the late Derek Jarman, and playing sexually ambiguous roles in movies such as Sally Potter's Orlando. "It's exciting," she says. Maybe we can be carried down Princes Street, like a king and queen, on a float covered in tartan.

"I am looking forward to meeting him. I am double-o three and a half, that's who I am. I like the fact that he is patron too. Good for him for being involved. I think between us we cover the whole breadth of the film-making world. And I am very proud, as a Scot, to be involved with this festival, and be associated with what it does. Everywhere I go in the world, film-makers know what it's about and talk about it with such enthusiasm. They know it is where films are discovered and are discussed. It was at the festival, at the Filmhouse, that I saw what was the beginnings of the British film industry we have now: I remember seeing Stephen Frears's My Beautiful Launderette there in 1985."

Film festivals are not new to Swinton: she has been a member of the prize juries at the Berlin and Sundance festivals. But Edinburgh is really dear to my heart, and I think it is a very film-maker-friendly festival; an audience-friendly festival where people can actually get tickets and see the films, which is not always the case. It has never really been a business-orientated festival like Cannes or Berlin or Venice.

"There is a sense of community but it does have an international profile: I remember Woody Allen saying that he never realised he was an international film-maker until he saw his work being shown at Edinburgh. I think that is still the case."

This year the film festival is collaborating with the National Theatre of Scotland to stage a reading of a new script by the playwright David Greig. (The NTS has also recently staged Byrne's Tutti Frutti.) But it might have to wait some time to convince his wife to tread its boards, despite her time studying with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

"I saw Black Watch in a drill hall in Dingwall, and it was exciting, it was nourishing," she says. "But to be honest I am allergic to theatre. It's never been big for me," she says. "I can go public with that now. I just don't go. But John, I know, is very excited about the National Theatre. I think it plays to all the Scottish strengths, and I love that it doesn't have a specific home. It is the kind of thing we get right so effortlessly.

"I can't see myself on stage, though. Maybe if I can get amnesia and forget I am allergic to theatre. You can never say never. I did some theatre once most notably as a live exhibit' in the Serpentine Gallery in London in 1995 but as soon as I did film I knew that was what I wanted to get involved in."

Any exceptions to her rule? "Oh, well: there is panto," she says, obviously harbouring unusually fond memories of watching Ronnie Corbett all those years ago. "I absolutely love it."