Senior figures in the British Academy of Film and Television Arts have been accused of parochialism and bias after refusing to nominate any Gaelic or Welsh language films for next year's Oscars. Bafta decided no film was good enough to be submitted as the UK entry for the Oscars' foreign language category.

Chris Young, the Bafta-nominated producer of one widely acclaimed film rejected for the Oscars, the Gaelic-language production Seachd: the Inaccessible Pinnacle, has resigned from the academy in protest and complained to senior academy figures such as Lord Puttnam.

"I have put my neck on the line because I think it's a disgraceful decision," he said. "I don't want to be associated with the decision because I think it's parochial. All Bafta is showing itself interested in is narrowing the possibilities of people seeing a wide range of films."

Richard Staniforth, the producer of another rejected entry, the Welsh film Calon Gaeth, or Small Country, and a former chairman of Bafta in Wales, told the Guardian: "The relationship between Celtic language film-makers and London is quite poor, and I think that the M25 enclave is quite dismissive of films which are made in the nations."

Bafta insisted yesterday that it could only submit a film if it believed it was "outstanding" - a position it had checked with the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. A Bafta spokeswoman said its decision had been reviewed by the academy's board of trustees.

Mr Young said: "The only reason for not putting a film forward is there was no film." The UK was now the only country in Europe not to enter the foreign language category. Sandy Lieberson, chair of the American academy's London committee, supported the complaints. He told Mr Young he had never known a country refuse to submit a film.

Seachd, the first modern Gaelic-language film for 25 years, focuses on Skye's mountains, the Cuillins. It was nominated for a critics' award at the 2007 Edinburgh film festival and selected for festivals in Rome, Vancouver and Finland; it is due for general UK release next month.