Oscars, Baftas, Globes... and there all Gold. Awards season retrospective

It's March 2009 already. How time flies. The awards season is over and the one film on everyone's mind, lips and voting ballots is Slumdog Millionaire. Danny Boyle, Simon Beafouy and British film in general received great plaudits and a fantastic amount of recognition over the past three or four months.

But Slumdog wasn't the only British film to receive recognition. Albeit in other forms. Kate Winslet demonstrated that to win an Oscar you do have play Nazi (as she claimed in Extras), and although I haven't seen The Reader, and have in fact heard very little good about it. Kate Winslet certainly seems to have been the most watchable and enjoyable element of the film. But then when isn't she.

Man on Wire picked up best documentary, and although its about a Frenchmen, it's still classed as a British film. So well done to James Marsh for the best heist film of last year and a deserving winner for best documentary beating off. The excellent The Duchess picked up best costume, but then when doesn't a period piece beat off the competition.

The British film industry might be suffering but as The Guardian mentioned recently, in this history of the Oscar's we've fared better than most in the Awards haul.

As for the Golden Globes Winslet won again but for Revolutionary Road, she was actually winner of best supporting actress for The Reader as this year. Colin Farrell picked up for In Bruges, Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky. We even got in on the TV awards with Tom Wilkinson picking up supporting role for John Adams.

The Baftas proved also that Slumdog Millionaire isn't just a hit across the pond, but also universally adored here. Picking up a stash on statues. I think the only dissapointment for me this year was that Steve McQueen's superb Hunger only managed to win The Carl Forman Award. How he failed to be nominated for best director is beyond me. Hunger was clearly the best British film of 2008 and should not have been overlooked, even if the subject matter and content where not for the faint of heart.

And yet, despite all the awards, the British film industry still suffers and is in danger of being reduced even further in the recession. Film Four looks set merge with BBC Worldwide and is in danger of losing funding which could render future film, like Slumdog Millionaire, a thing of the past. Not only will this impact of the number and quality of British films being made, but could also see a dip in the quality of British film crew, despite Britain still being a great place to make films, we have some of the best facilities in the world, our film crews need to be constantly employed and if Film Four is shut down, or even faces further funding cuts, the number of homegrown productions will also reduce.

Just look at the number of great films Film Four has produced over the years and you begin to realise what's at stake.

So it's great that British films have been so successful this year, let's just hope its not the last, and that Film Four and other production companies working within the UK can survive the economic downturn and continue to produce ground breaking, boundry pushing, award winning films.