One of Scotland's leading film directors, David Mackenzie, won awards at the Berlin Film Festival for both Hallam Foe (2007), set in Edinburgh and starring Jamie Bell and Sophia Myles, and his film, Asylum (2005), featuring Natasha Richardson and Sir Ian McKellan. His psychological thriller, Young Adam (2003), starring Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton, is one of the most important films made in Britain in the last 50 years, winning a Scottish BAFTA for Best Director, as well as awards at Edinburgh and the London Critics Circle. His latest film, Spread (2009), shot in the States is being released this summer.

The event, which is co-hosted by the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen, will be followed by a reception hosted by Scottish Screen.