"My name is Alan Parker and I'm a film director."

The man who made Midnight Express, Fame and The Commitments clearly wasn't expecting to have to identify himself. He was the guest of honour, after all.

It was Bradford's annual night of the stars; the start of the two-week festival of film which perhaps more than anything else going on here, has put the city on the world stage.

Alan Parker had wanted for years to attend it, he said. Other engagements had stopped him doing so until now.

He surveyed the grand atrium of the new National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, host to the festival, and pronounced himself happy to be in town. He remained magnanimous even after an out-of-town radio reporter thrust a microphone in his face and implored: "Tell us who you are and what you do."

There were many such reporters in attendance, for the Bradford Film Festival is now truly a media event.

The BBC producer from Leeds seemed the most panic-stricken. His live programme was already half over before Mr Parker arrived. Several thousand pound's worth of satellite equipment was in danger of generating nothing more than a big car park bill.

"There's no doubt that this festival has a terrific reputation in the business," said Mr Parker, as they finally settled him down.

"And it's not just down to money - it's down to the dedication and enthusiasm of the people who run it. In London, the Bradford festival is held up as an example of how all the others ought to be run."

Lord David Putnam, former head of Columbia Pictures and now the festival's honorary president, concurred. "Cannes is trying to catch Bradford up now," he said. He was in a playful mood.

Which of the 150 or so films was he most looking forward to seeing?

"I hear that My Life So Far is very good."

Did he not produce that film himself?

"Did I? Seems so long ago I can hardly remember."

For Bill Lawrence, the festival's organiser, remembering what he had done two hours ago was hard enough.

"I feel like a father attending the birth of his child," he said. "And this year it's been a particularly difficult birth. I think I've got post natal depression."

Alan Parker was not surprised.

"I don't know how they do it," he mused. "It's difficult enough getting one film sent from A to B. How a festival gets so many films in one place I'll never know. It makes me think I should stay here a few days longer and see them all."

The film they had come to see last night was The Cider House Rules, an acclaimed wartime drama for which co-star Michael Caine has been Oscar nominated. The Bradford screening, like many in the festival, was several weeks ahead of its official UK release.

Later last night, with the paying punters (the ones without the bow ties) gone, the guests attended a private dinner inside the museum. Today they will see a further gala screening, this time of the new British comedy, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?

Full details of all festival films and events are on its website, www.bradfordfilmfestival.org.uk

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.