LETTER:British film-makers should not join Hollywood

From Mr Nick Turvey

Sir: Hamish McRae seems to think films are no more culturally significant than cars. Perhaps he only reads airport novels as well. There are artists and poets in British cinema, from Michael Powell to Ken Loach, whose films enhance and deepen our understanding of the world. Their films have been popular and successful enough to allow them to make more films. Why should we want them to make Jaws XVIII?

On the money front, no filmmaker I know is asking for more subsidy. We want tax breaks. And, as the Irish government is discovering, the resultant boost to the economy more than compensates for the lost tax revenue.

Yours,

NICK TURVEY

London, W8

11 June