THE PLAYERS: Iris stars Dame Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent, left, as the married couple. VENUE: The Cameo in Home Street

By BRIAN FERGUSON

EDINBURGH is to host a charity screening of a new British film which is being tipped for an Oscar.

The Cameo, in Home Street, has been given the honour of staging the Scottish premiere of Iris, a love story based on the life of best-selling novelist Iris Murdoch.

Mrs Brown star Dame Judi Dench, Titanic idol Kate Winslet and Topsy Turvy’s Jim Broadbent are among the big names who appear in the long-awaited movie.

Organisers of the event, being held in February in aid of Alzheimer’s Scotland - Action on Dementia, are hopeful at least one of the stars will be able to attend the Cameo screening.

Iris tells of the enduring love between Murdoch and her literary critic husband John Bayley, from the early days of their romance after meeting at Oxford University to her untimely death from Alzheimer’s two years ago.

The film, which is also expected to win a host of Bafta nominations early next year, is one of the first major movies to portray a sufferer of dementia .

The charity today said it hoped the film would help remove the stigma surrounding the condition, which affects an estimated 58,000 people in Scotland.

The Cameo secured the Scottish premiere after general manager Diane Henderson approached the charity when she heard about the movie’s forthcoming release.

She said today: "Although Iris isn’t a film about Alzheimer’s disease, the subject is heavily featured .

"I thought a special screening would be a great way to raise money for the charity and they were very pleased to be asked. I haven’t had a chance to see the film yet, but it’s meant to be very good and is being talked about for both Bafta and Oscar success next year.

"The distributors are trying to get some of the stars to come up for the screening and we’re very hopeful at least one of them will be able to attend.

"All proceeds from the night will be going to the charity, so we hope it’s a sell-out."

British film stars to have visited the Cameo in recent years include Robert Carlyle, Patsy Kensit and Peter Mullan.

Vicky Lewis, regional publicist for the film’s distributors, Beuna Vista International, said just one public screening would be held in Britain - the UK premiere in London - before the Edinburgh event.

"We felt Edinburgh was an ideal place to host a Scottish premiere because it is renowned as a university city and we think the film will prove very popular with students, " she said.

Rachel Guy, head of funding development with the Edinburgh-based charity, said: " It’s quite well-known that Iris Murdoch suffered from dementia, which still has a stigma attached to it. Anything that gets it into the public eye can only raise people’s awareness of it and helping to reduce that stigma must be a good thing."

Frequently described as "the most brilliant woman in England," the writer is widely regarded as an icon of her generation.

Born in Dublin, Murdoch was educated at school in England and went on to teach philosophy at Oxford University. It was two years after publishing her first novel, Under The Net, that she married Bayley .

She went on to write another 24 novels, including The Bell, A Severed Head, The Italian Girl, and The Philosopher’s Pupil.

Tickets for the Cameo event are priced £7.50 (£5.20 concessions) and are on sale now.