Alfonso Cuarón responds to British film debate

Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuarón has had a busy and successful award season this year for his feature film Gravity. The most recent wins were at the BAFTAs on Sunday, where the film picked up a total of six awards. One of the wins was of course for Outstanding British Film, but there has been quite the uproar about the film not qualifying as British enough.

Because the film was directed and co-written by two Mexicans ( Cuarón and his son Jonas) and starred two of Hollywood’s biggest A-listers (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney), spectators feel that it isn’t right that Gravity won this particular award. However, the movie was filmed/created in the UK, has “significant British creative involvement,“ and was produced by Harry Potter’s David Heyman.

According to Digital Spy,  Cuarón spoke out about the controversy surrounding his film, saying,

“Except for a couple of Mexicans [who] came here – legally! – and a couple of American stars, this is a film that was completely shot in this country, developed in this country, and made using cutting edge technology developed by British artists.”

He also spoke of BAFTA distinguishing the categories of Best Film and Best British Film:

“For me, the real question about BAFTA is why a British institution needs a distinct category for Best Film? By that I mean, ‘why does it need to be Best British Film?’ It should be Best Film, and it should be Best Non-British Film.”

What do you think of this alleged controversy? Do you think Gravity qualifies enough to be classed as a British film? Let us know with your comments and opinions.