Letter: Scottish cringe

Braveheart may or may not be sensationalist or true to history as suggested by James McAvoy; however, the fact that it took an Australian to bring one of Scotland's national heroes to the big screen is food for thought.

"Scottish" films tend to be nothing of the kind. They are films made in Scotland by those from other countries; recent examples being Stone of Destiny (Candian) and the horror flick Outcast, which was Irish.

When it is pointed out in these pages that our arts are primarily run by networks of ladies from the Home Counties and men from Australia, a period of snarling denial ensues, yet one need only look at Sewden, which has had four international hits in as many years starting with Let The Right One In and ending with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest or even tiny Iceland, which has a larger film industry than we do, to see what could be achieved if we took control of our own culture.

Four years of a "nationalist" administration and three culture secretaries later the fact that this debate is taking place sadly shows that the Scottish cringe is sadly still with us and the term "Scottish film industry" remains a contradiction in terms.

SOPHIE L ANDERSON

Marchmont Road

Edinburgh