YORK-BORN Oscar winning actress Dame Judi Dench is set to speak at a film festival in the city to mark its tenth anniversary next month.

The actress is helping celebrate ten years of the city's only film festival, Aesthetica.

Dame Judi will be joining the festival’s masterclass strand to discuss her esteemed career on stage and screen.

In light of the pandemic, Aesthetica Film Festival (ASFF ) is going virtual this year, and in a year that will see some stellar talents from both behind and in front the camera speak, Dame Judi’s masterclass at 4pm on November 8 will bring the ASFF to a close.

With a body-of-work that stretches back to 1957, when she left drama college to play Ophelia in a production of Hamlet at the Old Vic, Dame Judi’s wealth of experience has seen her work with some of the world’s most acclaimed directors.

Among her many collaborators stand Clint Eastwood on J Edgar and Tim Burton - Mrs Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

On stage, Dame Judi has won a Tony on Broadway in 1999 for her role in Amy’s View and a record eight Olivier awards, most recently for A Winter’s Tale. In the cinema, she has been equally feted, receiving seven Oscar nominations, beginning with her role as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown. In 1999, her turn as an imperious Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare In Love saw her win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

To book your ticket, visit asff.co.uk/tickets.