Letter: False boundaries

WITH the annual movie awards season in full flow once again, I find myself assailed from all sides of the press and broadcast media to cheer on British success (your report, 19 January). Why?

Film is an international artistic medium, not a national sport, and I have always considered the major British Oscar hope for best actor, Colin Firth in The King's Speech, to be rather wooden, regardless of his place of birth.

I also find it puzzling that America should go gaga over any film concerning the British Royal Family when their own films are often so much better. Is it some kind of cultural hangover from the days of colonialism?

In the opinion of many discerning film fans, the best movies these days hail from South Korea, Japan and China, all of whom mysteriously fail to feature in the endless rounds of Golden Globes, Baftas and Oscars.

Gavin Fleming

Grassmarket

Edinburgh