Presented at a special ceremony at FAUK Member, the National Library of Scotland in Glasgow, Swinton was awarded for her work on the preservation and promotion of archive film, film history (and in particular women’s role in it), and the importance of film archives worldwide.

While Swinton is one of the most sought-after actors working today, her work has extended beyond narrative film. She played a key role as narrator in Mark Cousins’ 14-hour documentary ‘Women Make Film’, and also collaborated with Isaac Julien on the film ‘Derek’ – the story of Derek Jarman using archive footage. Her advocacy contributed to the successful fight to save Derek Jarman’s cottage, where she filmed one of her early collaborations with the filmmaker in 1990. Swinton also supports film archives wherever she happens to be working – having recently delivered a masterclass series alongside Apichatpong Weerasethakul at the Thai Film Archive.While Swinton is one of the most sought-after actors working today, her work has extended beyond narrative film. She played a key role as narrator in Mark Cousins’ 14-hour documentary ‘Women Make Film’, and also collaborated with Isaac Julien on the film ‘Derek’ – the story of Derek Jarman using archive footage. Her advocacy contributed to the successful fight to save Derek Jarman’s cottage, where she filmed one of her early collaborations with the filmmaker in 1990. Swinton also supports film archives wherever she happens to be working – having recently delivered a masterclass series alongside Apichatpong Weerasethakul at the Thai Film Archive.