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Mr. Young is understandably disappointed that this film, made with around £600,000 of taxpayers money, has been rejected for an Oscar nomination. I imagine that all of the organisations who contributed our money towards its production, as well as taxpayers, will feel the same way. Sadly, the film failed to make the grade. I understand, however, that the film contained some strong acting performances, including one by Mr. Young’s daughter. Perhaps Mr.Young and Mr. Miller (director) will have more success next time.

I've heard a lot of good things about this film and what I've read is confirmed in the following review. This decision by Bafta is a blow for Scotland. www.scotlandonsunday .scotsman.com/index. cfm?id=782232007

This Film has received rave reviews from critics hence the decision not to enter it to this years Acadamy Awards is nothing less than an attempt to stifle the awareness of the gaelic countries Language, it is nothing more than a Metrocentric London Organisations pretence that all art in the UK must follow the very souths idea of being British. This is no more than censorship if one considers that the Americans cannot understand why this Movie is not being entered in the best non English Categorie of the Academy Awards.

It strikes me as fair odd that "Seachd" can garner outstanding reviews in the major newspapers, but no praise whatsoever from BAFTA. Is the "standard" BAFTA wanted its UK, non-English Oscar entry to live up to a London standard? Or, is this decision really a slap in the face at a language so many tried to stamp out for so many years? As the film suggests, Làn fhìrinn na sgeòil (The truth is in the story). Perhaps we have not yet heard the ending of the BAFTA tale. We can hope for a Hollywood ending.

It is well known that the metropolitan elite responsible for this decision despise Gaelic ( and Welsh). They probably rationalised it in the rather snide way that George 1104pm did. Wonder if he realises how foolish and nasty these superficially "reasonable" comments makes him look.

The pig-headedness of BAFTA in standing by its "decision" is reprehensible, given the outstanding reviews the fiolm has received and the demand for an explanation from the Americans as to why it hasn't been entered. It is further inexplicable why BAFTA Scotland in Glasgow has failed to stand up for the Gaidhealtachd on this Scottish issue. It is yet another slap in the face for Scotland (and Wales) from the effete London elite and their "Scottish" fellow-travellers and useful idiots, and must only add fuel for the two Celtic countries to go their own way. What has the Scottish Parliament to say about this? Will it demand that BAFTA change its mind? Will it demand the resignation of Amanda Berry, and an explanation from the Westminster Minister for Sports, Culture and the Arts (SCAM)? What has the SNP to say? All Scots should be up in arms at this discriminatory behaviour and demand resignations, and a total restructuring of BAFTA. It is very shabby of that quango to try and shuffle the blame off onto [italic]Seachd[/italic] as not being up to scratch given some of the awful turkeys it has submitted to the Oscars (but I suppose they were [italic]English[/italic] turkeys so that's all right, then).

It's a tricky one... the reviews were great. Then again, a Gaelic novel made it into the 100 favourite Scottish books, despite the fact that only 1 percent of the population speaks the language and perhaps 1 percent of that 1 percent has actually read the novel in question. But we pat ourselves on the back and appear blissfully unaware of the fact that a clearer example of well-meaning tokenism would be tricky to find. Is it good for the language that no proper criticism is allowed? There's a difference between appreciating the achievement of making a feature film in Gaelic and honestly assessing the film itself. In this case most Gaels I know who have watched it seem to conclude that it was very uneven, that the framing narrative was poor, some actors were clearly amateurs and some of the dialogue betrayed its roots in translation from English. But when all that's said and done, it seems we can say what we like in private, but to do so in public would be in some way to stab our language and culture in the back. And then the politickers jump in with both feet and throw around paranoia and divisive judgements on relative degrees of Scottishness, and there's a nagging irritation for those of us who can and do speak Gaelic as we hear special pleading from a producer and director who do not. This is not a situation which does Gaelic any favours.

Personally, I would like to see BAFTA publish the criteria by which it makes its decisions concerning what to submit to the Oscars online or at the very least make them available for a small fee in print. It smacks heavily of "Good Ole Boy Network" syndrome and makes me seriously wonder if BAFTA is nothing more than a bunch of very talented, very highly awarded people who have lost their sense of perspective on who really makes the decision on how good or bad a film is. It's the consumer who decides which movies they want to see. There shouldn't be a group of people in between "deciding" for us what is available to see. And like it or not, for those of us in the U.S. who want to see [italic]Seachd[/italic] BAFTA's decision spells disaster for the movie ever getting across the Big Pond.

[quote][bold][I totally think its a shame that we did'nt enter for the oscar, as a Scottish American, raise on in Luskentyre, on the Isle of Harris first language was Gaelic which to this day I read, write and speak fluently an I am involved with the teaching of the language in the USA. I haved walked the red carpet in LA at the Sag Awards and the Oscars and I would have been proud to just hear of the nomination of a gaelic movie under foreign movies category. Give Gaelic a chance[/bold][/quote]