I love that phrase, “It won’t leave the island.” I never understood it until it was explained to me that that is what producers, etc, call a British film that doesn’t stand a chance of achieving success (or whatever) anywhere but here – ‘on the island’. So, what the heck do the BIFA awards – British Independent Film Awards – have to do with anything? They’re not the Oscars, are they? They’re... 

BFI London Film Festival began this week with a lot of hoopla, celebrities, red carpets and such. But of course, what is really interesting is the films – films that you may not get to see otherwise. (I’m still recovering from a film I saw at the San Sebastian Film Festival yonks ago that did NOT get released here and has, as far as I can tell, never come to the UK. That is a bad thing for all of us.) You may think it is too much trouble... 

If the response of Oscar voters drifting through the screenings at Telluride is anything to go by, ‘The King’s Speech’ seems to be a sure bet for the awards season, if not for a bag of Oscars on 27 February, 2011. Known for his roles in period dramas, Colin Firth stars as King George VI, the current Queen’s father – a man so afflicted with a stutter that Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) had to be appointed to...