Why are Foreign Films, Foreign? (my response to a friend)

I wrote the following in response to a friend, who wondered why I separated my favorite films into American and Foreign: It's so funny you should say that: "It's funny how we call them foreign films..."; when I was putting the list together, I kept thinking how strange it is that we in the West refer to films made outside our myopic world-view as Foreign. What must the "foreign" cinema makers think: My film is foreign? To whom? It's another example of our strange and silly need to label everything. But, in my defense, I chose to separate my arbitrary lists, simply because the American films I relate to, do speak to a certain American experience; where as most of the "Foreign" films on my list, initially appealed to me, at least partly, because they depicted a certain exotic and unfamiliar world, separate from my own life experience; which in turn expanded my mind and "soul". Having said that, the films that mean the most to me, like Salaam Bombay!, Small Change, City of God, Fanny and Alexander, and Spirited Away, speak to very specific aspects of my life, regarding childhood pain and loss, which are universal.