[icernet] The Warrior's Dispute

[Arul Selvan MIC]

Kapadia insisted that his film, The Warrior, which follows a man's
spiritual journey from the deserts of Rajasthan to the snowy peaks of
Himachal Pradesh in the Himalayas, was British.

Its producer, Bertrand Faivre, said that, other than the fact that it
was shot in India, the film could not have been more British. "The
writer was British. The director was British. The majority of department
heads were British," Mr Faivre said.

"The post-production was British. The money was British. FilmFour was
British. The department for culture gave it a certificate of British
nationality."

In a further ironic twist, The Warrior's place will be taken by Tim
Lyn's Welsh-language coming-of-age tale, Eldra. While the number of
Welsh-speakers in the UK is estimated to be around 500,000, there is
said to be three times as many people reasonably fluent in Hindi.

To add insult to injury, the academy allowed the predominantly
Russian-language and Russian-set Lilya 4-Ever to compete for Sweden.

Mr Faivre told Screen International that festivals around the world had
described the film his film as a landmark in British film-making.

"The academy seems to have a very narrow view of what a British film is.
Asif is a second generation Indian, born and brought up in London, who
was expressing something of worth. He had a western take on an Indian
story." 

Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,854853,00.html