2021 Challenges: Setting Up the Schedule

[sol]

2021 Challenges: Setting Up the Schedule

For the past twelve and a half days, we have voted by private message on Challenge options for the 2021 schedule.

Thanks to all the voters! (33)

3eyes
72aicm
AB537
albajos
allisoncm
blocho
blueboybob
flavo5000
frbrown
hurluberlu
India Istanbul
jdidaco
jeroeno
Lilarcor
Lonewolf2003
maxwelldeux
Melvelet
nimimerkillinen
OldAle1
Onderhond
ororama
PeacefulAnarchy
peeptoad
psychotronicbeatnik
RogerTheMovieManiac88
shugs
sol
sortile9io
St. Gloede
Traveller
vortexsurfer
zuma
zzzorf

These 16 options have succeeded in acquiring enough votes to placed into the 2021 schedule

28 points / Run the Director

3eyes
72aicm
allisoncm
blocho
flavo5000
frbrown
India Istanbul - 2
Lilarcor - 2
Lonewolf2003 - 3
maxwelldeux
Melvelet
OldAle1 - 2
psychotronicbeatnik - 2
nimimerkillinen
RogerTheMovieManiac88
St. Gloede
vortexsurfer - 2
zuma - 2
zzzorf

26 points / Travel the World

3eyes
blocho - 2
blueboybob - 3
flavo5000
jeroeno - 2
Melvelet
nimimerkillinen
ororama - 2
PeacefulAnarchy
peeptoad - 2
sol
St. Gloede - 2
Traveller - 3
vortexsurfer
zzzorf - 3

26 points / One Film from Each Year

72aicm
blocho
blueboybob
flavo5000 - 2
frbrown
hurluberlu
jdidaco
jeroeno - 3
maxwelldeux
nimimerkillinen
PeacefulAnarchy
peeptoad - 2
RogerTheMovieManiac88
shugs - 2
sol
sortile9io - 2
zuma - 3
zzzorf

26 points / Experimental/Avant-Garde

allisoncm
flavo5000
frbrown - 2
hurluberlu - 3
jdidaco - 2
Lilarcor - 2
Melvelet - 2
nimimerkillinen
OldAle1
ororama
PeacefulAnarchy
peeptoad - 3
RogerTheMovieManiac88 - 2
sol
St. Gloede - 2
zuma

26 points / Run the Actor

3eyes
72aicm
allisoncm
blocho
flavo5000 - 2
frbrown
India Istanbul - 2
Lilarcor - 2
maxwelldeux
nimimerkillinen
OldAle1
ororama
peeptoad
psychotronicbeatnik
RogerTheMovieManiac88
shugs - 3
St. Gloede
vortexsurfer
zzzorf - 2

24 points / Mystery & Thriller

AB537
allisoncm
blocho
blueboybob
flavo5000
frbrown - 2
jdidaco
Lonewolf2003 - 2
maxwelldeux
Melvelet
Onderhond
ororama - 2
PeacefulAnarchy
peeptoad - 2
psychotronicbeatnik - 2
RogerTheMovieManiac88
shugs
vortexsurfer
zzzorf

22 points / Low IMDb Rating

albajos
blocho
flavo5000
India Istanbul - 3
jdidaco
maxwelldeux
OldAle1 - 3
Onderhond - 2
psychotronicbeatnik - 3
sol
vortexsurfer - 3
zzzorf - 2

22 points / DTC nominees

72aicm - 2
AB537
allisoncm
blocho
blueboybob
hurluberlu - 2
jdidaco
Melvelet
nimimerkillinen - 2
ororama - 2
PeacefulAnarchy
RogerTheMovieManiac88 - 2
sol
St. Gloede
zuma
zzzorf - 2

21 points / Action & Adventure

AB537
blueboybob
flavo5000 - 2
frbrown - 3
jdidaco
Lonewolf2003 - 2
maxwelldeux - 2
OldAle1
Onderhond
peeptoad
psychotronicbeatnik
RogerTheMovieManiac88
shugs
vortexsurfer - 2
zzzorf

20 points / One Film From Each iCM List

72aicm - 2
albajos
blueboybob
frbrown
hurluberlu
jdidaco
jeroeno - 2
maxwelldeux - 2
nimimerkillinen
PeacefulAnarchy - 2
sol
sortile9io - 3
Traveller
zzzorf

19 points / Waves Around World

3eyes - 2
hurluberlu
jdidaco
Lilarcor - 3
Melvelet - 3
nimimerkillinen
PeacefulAnarchy
peeptoad
RogerTheMovieManiac88 - 2
sol
St. Gloede - 3

19 points / War movies

3eyes - 3
72aicm - 2
AB537
blocho - 3
flavo5000
Lonewolf2003 -2
maxwelldeux
ororama
peeptoad
RogerTheMovieManiac88
shugs
sol - 2

17 points / Animation

albajos
flavo5000 - 3
frbrown
jdidaco
Lonewolf2003
nimimerkillinen
OldAle1
Onderhond - 2
ororama
psychotronicbeatnik - 2
shugs
St. Gloede
zzzorf

16 points / 1000<400

72aicm - 3
AB537
hurluberlu - 2
Melvelet - 2
nimimerkillinen
ororama
PeacefulAnarchy - 2
sol - 3
zuma

16 points / Unofficial

72aicm
albajos
allisoncm
blocho
blueboybob
frbrown
jeroeno
Lilarcor
maxwelldeux
Onderhond - 3
ororama
RogerTheMovieManiac88
shugs – 2

16 points / LGBTIQQAAP

3eyes
albajos
allisoncm
India Istanbul
jdidaco - 2
Lilarcor
maxwelldeux - 3
PeacefulAnarchy - 2
RogerTheMovieManiac88
sol - 2
vortexsurfer

Runners-up

15 points / Academy Award Nominees

3eyes - 2
AB537
albajos
allisoncm
blueboybob - 2
flavo5000
maxwelldeux
nimimerkillinen - 2
PeacefulAnarchy
psychotronicbeatnik
shugs
zzzorf

15 points / Crime Films

AB537
blocho - 2
blueboybob
flavo5000
frbrown - 2
India Istanbul
Lonewolf2003
maxwelldeux
ororama - 3
shugs
zzzorf

15 points / In Competition at Cannes

AB537
allisoncm
hurluberlu - 2
jdidaco - 2
Melvelet - 2
nimimerkillinen - 3
OldAle1
shugs
zuma - 2

15 points / Musical

3eyes
flavo5000
jdidaco - 3
maxwelldeux
OldAle1 - 2
ororama
PeacefulAnarchy
RogerTheMovieManiac88 -3
vortexsurfer - 2

14 points / Comedy

3eyes
AB537
allisoncm
blueboybob - 2
flavo5000
maxwelldeux
nimimerkillinen
Onderhond
psychotronicbeatnik
RogerTheMovieManiac88
shugs
sol
vortexsurfer
zzzorf

12 points / Martial Arts

flavo5000
frbrown
Lonewolf2003
maxwelldeux
OldAle1
Onderhond - 2
ororama
shugs
sol - 2
vortexsurfer

11 points / Criterion & MoC

allisoncm
blocho - 2
blueboybob - 2
Melvelet
nimimerkillinen
sol
Traveller - 2
zuma

11 points / TSPDT + TSP 21C

AB537
allisoncm
blueboybob
Melvelet
ororama
PeacefulAnarchy - 3
zzzorf
zuma - 2

8 points / Long Films

flavo5000
jdidaco
Lilarcor
Melvelet
OldAle1
sol
St. Gloede
vortexsurfer

8 points / Blaxploitation

albajos
India Istanbul
jdidaco
maxwelldeux
OldAle1 - 2
shugs

7 points / 1950s

AB537
frbrown
Melvelet
PeacefulAnarchy
RogerTheMovieManiac88
Traveller - 2

7 points / 1960s

AB537
blueboybob
Melvelet
PeacefulAnarchy
sol
Traveller - 2

7 points / 1970s

AB537
blueboybob
Lonewolf2003
Melvelet
nimimerkillinen
shugs
sol

6 points / 1980s

AB537
blocho
blueboybob
frbrown
Lonewolf2003
Melvelet

6 points / 1940s

AB537
frbrown
jdidaco
PeacefulAnarchy
peeptoad
zzzorf

6 points / 1930s

frbrown
jdidaco
PeacefulAnarchy
peeptoad
RogerTheMovieManiac88
zzzorf

5 points / 1990s

AB537
blocho
blueboybob
frbrown
jeroeno

As the first reply to this thread, I will post the complete list of options we are looking to schedule in, including permanent and country/region challenges.

[sol]

It is now up to us to determine how we would like to schedule the 2021 regions and the successful theme/genre options. Over the past couple of years there has been a push to keep forum favourite challenges in their traditional months, so I have already included a few things in the table. If we want to though, we could always shake things up. Happy to take feedback on this.

I am also happy to take feedback on making triples easier or harder to attain. Last time the general consensus was that triples shouldn't be easy to attain, but they should not be absolutely impossible either.

A few suggestions that I have of my own:

• Place 1000<400 either early in the year to have it a distance from <400 Checks or in November for the Challenge to be for the 2021 list.
• Avoid repeating country/genre overlaps from 2019, i.e. don't place Benelux with Mystery/Thriller again or Latin America with Horror again.
• Travel the World goes nicely as either a beginning of the year or end-of-the-year challenge (but we have had it in December before...)

2021 Challenge Schedule: A Work in Progress

Month	Country Challenge	Theme Challenge	Theme Challenge
January	-	Sci-Fi/Fantasy	-
February	-	-	-
March	-	Directed by Women	-
April	-	Doubling the Canon Nominees	-
May	-	Western	-
June	-	-	-
July	-	-	-
August	-	<400 Checks
September	-	Silent Era	-
October	-	Horror	-
November	-	Film Noir	-
December	-	Documentary	-

Countries/regions that still need to be placed	Themes that still need to be placed
Argentina/Brazil/Uruguay Benelux Eastern Europe - excluding Russia and Balkans France Iran/Central Asia Italy Japan Korean Peninsula Latin America - excluding Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico & Caribbean Middle East - excluding Iran Oceania UK/Ireland	Run the Director Travel the World One Film from Each Year Experimental/Avant-Garde Run the Actor Mystery & Thriller Low IMDb Rating Action & Adventure One Film From Each iCM List Waves from Around World War movies Animation 1000<400 Unofficial LGBTIQQAAP

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

12 out of the 16 I supported came to the top, which is quite a pleasing return. I don't think it affects anything, but I gave 1 point to Conquer the World. Perhaps, my use of words was the cause of a mix-up...

Musicals missing out by one point is rather heartbreaking. We could really have done with the energy, colour and vitality of a Musical Challenge in 2021, haha. It's been too long since the last one! A big thank you though to jd for his much-appreciated 3 points. So close...

I love the look of pretty much all the successful options.

Thanks, Sol!

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Oh, and could we maybe have UK/Ireland in March to tie in with St. Patrick's Day?

I need to have a think about all the other options and maybe let a few of them settle into provisional places. I'm sure I'll be back to chime in with a thought or two, before too long...

[maxwelldeux]

LGBT+ in June for Pride Month

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

War movies in June (D-Day) and France in July (le quatorze juillet)?

[PeacefulAnarchy]

I'd place the top vote getters to in the 3 blank spots so they don't compete against the big challenges
Travel the World
One Film from Each Year
Experimental/Avant-Garde

Run the Director and Run the Actor probably don't conflict much with the other challenges (assuming I understand them right).

1000<400 should probably be in Jan/Feb/Mar to be away from the other <400 challenge.

Edit:
I wonder if the decades would have done better if you'd pre-picked a couple of decades.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

I'd place the top vote getters to in the 3 blank spots so they don't compete against the big challenges
Travel the World
One Film from Each Year
Experimental/Avant-Garde

I really like this idea. In effect, it would put these three and DtC Noms in a tier with the permanent challenges and leave the other tier for the remaining options that generally garnered slightly fewer votes. I would be a pretty good way of splitting things up and would offer a balance, I think.

[sol]

12 out of the 16 I supported came to the top, which is quite a pleasing return. I don't think it affects anything, but I gave 1 point to Conquer the World. Perhaps, my use of words was the cause of a mix-up...

Musicals missing out by one point is rather heartbreaking. We could really have done with the energy, colour and vitality of a Musical Challenge in 2021, haha. It's been too long since the last one! A big thank you though to jd for his much-appreciated 3 points. So close...

I love the look of pretty much all the successful options.

Thanks, Sol!

Oh, I actually included your point for Travel the World (the participants listed only add to 25). I just forgot to add your name in. I did this quite a bit, actually, one of those quirks of copying-pasting and changing a score 16 times. I'd always change the score first and sometimes I'd forget to add in the name. I thought I corrected everything, but I might have missed it with yours as the last ballot in. And what a ballot it was! You managed to break a crazy tie for last place with your vote.

Oh, and could we maybe have UK/Ireland in March to tie in with St. Patrick's Day?

We could try that.

LGBT+ in June for Pride Month

I think allison suggested that already (in her PM vote) so sure.

War movies in June (D-Day) and France in July (le quatorze juillet)?

We could try that.

I'd place the top vote getters to in the 3 blank spots so they don't compete against the big challenges
Travel the World
One Film from Each Year
Experimental/Avant-Garde

Makes sense. Let me have a play with that.

1000<400 should probably be in Jan/Feb/Mar to be away from the other <400 challenge.

I said as much earlier, though this year we already partnered it up with Sci-fi/Fantasy so maybe we should shove it in February, March or April instead. Definitely an earlier month.

I wonder if the decades would have done better if you'd pre-picked a couple of decades.

I would say so... especially if you look at how little overlap there was in voters. Very few voted for more than two or three decades.

[sol]

Okay, added in first lot of suggestions.

What do you guys think of 1000<400 in April? Too much overlap with DTC nominees, too little overlap? It could be an interesting way to promote more films that are potential 500<400 candidates...

EDIT: We might already be over-committing June if we want one of the Biggies, and LGBTIQ+ and War all there. Maybe War in November for Remembrance Day?

2021 Challenge Schedule: A Work in Progress

Month	Country Challenge	Theme Challenge	Theme Challenge
January	-	Sci-Fi/Fantasy	-
February	-	Experimental/Avant-Garde	-
March	UK/Ireland	Directed by Women	-
April	-	Doubling the Canon Nominees	-
May	-	Western	-
June	-	One Film From Each Year	LGBTIQ+
July	France	Travel the World	-
August	-	<400 Checks
September	-	Silent Era	-
October	-	Horror	-
November	-	Film Noir	-
December	-	Documentary	-

Countries/regions that still need to be placed	Themes that still need to be placed
Argentina/Brazil/Uruguay Benelux Eastern Europe - excluding Russia and Balkans Iran/Central Asia Italy Japan Korean Peninsula Latin America - excluding Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico & Caribbean Middle East - excluding Iran Oceania	Run the Director Run the Actor Mystery & Thriller Low IMDb Rating Action & Adventure One Film From Each iCM List Waves from Around World Animation 1000<400 Unofficial

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Yes, War would go really well with November as well (Remembrance Sunday, The Armistice). The thought had crossed my mind, and if anything I like the idea even more than June. Gets my backing.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Would the Low IMDb Challenge go well in either January or February, and potentially complement either of the options in place?

And, Animation potentially in July alongside France and Travel the World?

Just tentative suggestions on my part...

[sol]

Would the Low IMDb Challenge go well in either January or February, and potentially complement either of the options in place?

And, Animation potentially in July alongside France and Travel the World?

We have done Low IMDb Rating + Sci-Fi/Fantasy before in the past - specifically when we were looking for deliberate overlap. These days though, we are trying to make sure that challenge triples are possible, but not easy, so I don't think Experimental and Low IMDb Rating go well together.

Regarding France + Travel the World, I would really like to pair them up with Run the Actor or Run the Director because then you could follow an actor or director across continents. Sounds like fun, right?

[sol]

Oh, and Animation might go nicely with Western. Again, there are some animated westerns, but not hundreds to the point that challenge triples and doubles are super easy.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

I quite like the Travel the World and Director/Actor idea. Yeah, could be interesting. If you go for Run the Actor and Travel the World, would Run the Director be one that might sit suitably alongside Experimental/Avant-Garde?

I don't really see animation and western as suitable bedfellows and probably would pretty much exclusively focus on westerns in such a scenario. Others might like it more, though.

I probably do veer towards pairing challenges that tie-in and partner up to a certain extent, as I feel that that element makes it more likely that I would dive into the two or three of them enthusiastically. I can understand your feelings around doubles and triples, though.

[sol]

Okay, I'll add in Run the Director and Run the Actor in those slots for the moment and I'll hold up with where to place Animation. Also will add War in.

I am definitely weary of pegging too much in already since this thread has only been live for six hours.

To anybody who has reading this for the first time now, NONE of this is set in stone. All subject to change with robust arguments.

2021 Challenge Schedule: A Work in Progress

Month	Country Challenge	Theme Challenge	Theme Challenge
January	-	Sci-Fi/Fantasy	-
February	-	Experimental/Avant-Garde	Run the Director
March	UK/Ireland	Directed by Women	-
April	-	Doubling the Canon Nominees	-
May	-	Western	-
June	-	One Film From Each Year	LGBTIQ+
July	France	Travel the World	Run the Actor
August	-	<400 Checks	-
September	-	Silent Era	-
October	-	Horror	-
November	-	Film Noir	War movies
December	-	Documentary	-

Countries/regions that still need to be placed	Themes that still need to be placed
Argentina/Brazil/Uruguay Benelux Eastern Europe - excluding Russia and Balkans Iran/Central Asia Italy Japan Korean Peninsula Latin America - excluding Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico & Caribbean Middle East - excluding Iran Oceania	Mystery & Thriller Low IMDb Rating Action & Adventure One Film From Each iCM List Waves from Around World Animation 1000<400 Unofficial

[maxwelldeux]

Honestly, unless there are compelling cultural reasons to alter the approach (e.g., LGBT in June; DbW in March), I'd just run a random number generator and filter our anything that hits a combo we've had before.

[blocho]

In 2012, there were seven decades challenges. Then they mostly disappeared for a few years. Then from 2018-2020, we had 11 decade challenges. But 2021 will have none.

Go figure.

[sortile9io]

If we're going to celebrate national days, the Festa della Repubblica is on 2 June.

[Melvelet]

Honestly, unless there are compelling cultural reasons to alter the approach (e.g., LGBT in June; DbW in March), I'd just run a random number generator and filter our anything that hits a combo we've had before.

+1

And 1000<400 early in the year. I can understand the reasoning behind putting 1000<400 and DtC nominees together - both are rather diverse challenges and definitely have a big overlap. Both will be my main focus in that month and I'd like to have them as distinct experiences if possible, there's so many interesting nominees that would get less attention for not also being on the Hidden Gems list. It's sort of tying both lists even closer together.

One thing that I'm generally undecided about is whether to encourage or discourage double/triple challenges. I kind of like the idea of for example exploring the richness of Latin American cinema together and depending on the other challenges this month we might end up with half of the participants only watching Latin American Sci-Fi/Fantasy movies for the synergy. On the other hand I recognise that exactly this might be an interesting twist for others and it might lead to additional people participating 'passively'.

It might make sense to not have two of the very general/diverse challenges (in terms of the type of movies that are eligible - Run the Director, 1000<400, <400, DtC, One Film From Each Year/List, Unofficial) together. We probably don't get much input from the people that typically don't enter challenges. Might be interesting for them to have a way of watching movies in a non-themed way and still participate in challenges all around the year. Would be useful to ask them what would make them consider participating - shall we create a new topic for this?

[Traveller]

If we're going to celebrate national days, the Festa della Repubblica is on 2 June.

And the Korean national day in August.

[beavis]

I usually only decide to participate if there is a great overlap between my own interests and what is being run, but even then there is often a conflict in timing. I wish I could always participate in challenges like 1000<400, cult, female directors, silent, or for instance the spontaneous African thing that is happening now, but if I've made my plans to look into other things for the coming month (and those plans always kinda happen organically from one watched film to the other, one month to the other) then I won't change those easily.

I would be interested in 1000<400 (very) early 2021, would try to join that, but otherwise I am not really one to participate in all this

[sol]

I can understand the reasoning behind putting 1000<400 and DtC nominees together - both are rather diverse challenges and definitely have a big overlap. Both will be my main focus in that month and I'd like to have them as distinct experiences if possible, there's so many interesting nominees that would get less attention for not also being on the Hidden Gems list. It's sort of tying both lists even closer together.

A bit confused after reading that - are you supporting having 1000<400 and DTC nominees in the same month?

we might end up with half of the participants only watching Latin American Sci-Fi/Fantasy movies for the synergy

Yeah, that's the problem with doubles and triples. It's a little boring if everybody is watching the exact same films due to overlap.

Would be useful to ask them what would make them consider participating - shall we create a new topic for this?

I don't know if that's so much of an issue. There are some users out there who will only participate in topics that interest them; others who will participate in all three no matter. The schedule is more about trying to create diverse watching pools and space out similar topics so that people broaden their horizons rather than focus on getting that double or triple point.

If we're going to celebrate national days, the Festa della Repubblica is on 2 June.

And the Korean national day in August.

Thanks for those suggestions.

I would be interested in 1000<400 (very) early 2021, would try to join that, but otherwise I am not really one to participate in all this

Yes, 1000<400 will be in one of the first four months. We already did Sci-Fi/Fantasy + 1000<400 this year though so probably not January.

[hurluberlu]

Great outcome with regards to brand new challenges...

I am still for making double/triple as hard as possible, both to avoid that one very popular challenge hijacking the two others and (maybe) allow more variety in winners.

On scheduling, I would avoid having these too close from each other:
- Noir and Mystery/Thriller,
- Horror and Mystery/Thriller,
- Unofficial, <400checks and 1000<400 - also low ratings to some extent
- Travel the world and Waves around the world
- Western and Action/Adventure
- Scifi/Fantasy and Action/Adventure

Maybe work on completing themes first and countries at the end.

[sol]

Great outcome with regards to brand new challenges...

Yeah, I think the power-voting really helped in that regard. I think I'll do private message voting again next year.

I am still for making double/triple as hard as possible, both to avoid that one very popular challenge hijacking the two others and (maybe) allow more variety in winners.

That's a very good point about variety of winners, hurlu. Totally agree there.

Personally, I would also prefer hard-as-possible triples, but I know that others out there disagree, so I think the "attainable but not easy" is what we agreed on last year.

On scheduling, I would avoid having these too close from each other:
- Noir and Mystery/Thriller,
- Horror and Mystery/Thriller,
- Unofficial, <400checks and 1000<400 - also low ratings to some extent
- Travel the world and Waves around the world
- Western and Action/Adventure
- Scifi/Fantasy and Action/Adventure

Maybe work on completing themes first and countries at the end.

Yeah, that's a good point. We can decide the countries once we know what the rest of the schedule looks like.

And agreed that none of those above should be in the same month together.

[Melvelet]

I can understand the reasoning behind putting 1000<400 and DtC nominees together - both are rather diverse challenges and definitely have a big overlap. Both will be my main focus in that month and I'd like to have them as distinct experiences if possible, there's so many interesting nominees that would get less attention for not also being on the Hidden Gems list. It's sort of tying both lists even closer together.

A bit confused after reading that - are you supporting having 1000<400 and DTC nominees in the same month?

Sorry if it wasn't clear. My last sentence was rather meant as a critique. I think the DtC nominee challenge should not particularly focus on 1000>400 movies and vice versa. Put them in different months, preferably even with a month in-between (because both challenges do have a similar type of movies)

we might end up with half of the participants only watching Latin American Sci-Fi/Fantasy movies for the synergy

Yeah, that's the problem with doubles and triples. It's a little boring if everybody is watching the exact same films due to overlap.

Some more input from others would be appreciated. Should the concurrent challenges try to maximize or minimize doubles and triples or should that not be taken into account at all?

Would be useful to ask them what would make them consider participating - shall we create a new topic for this?

I don't know if that's so much of an issue. There are some users out there who will only participate in topics that interest them; others who will participate in all three no matter. The schedule is more about trying to create diverse watching pools and space out similar topics so that people broaden their horizons rather than focus on getting that double or triple point.

There were some comments recently about people saying that they usually don't participate because they don't like the idea of simply making a numbered list of everything they watched that fits the theme. Granted, that's more related to discussions (or lack thereof) but it seems to me that this would be a good opportunity to review challenges and the process of choosing them as a whole. I personally wouldn't have a problem if we simply proceed the way we do but if we would end up with some fresh ideas and additional participation, it would be a win

[St. Gloede]

Excellent work, suggestions and results. Especially sol's point of not repeating previous combos and having travel the world in the beginning or end of the year, and PA's suggestion of not having the top vote earners compete with the popular static challenges.

In terms of the fixed items I always thought silent cinema was a challenge best suited for winter, but won't argue too much on the placements.

The one thing I think is missing a little is combos, for instance, run the Actor does not jive that well with travel the world, but we can also do it the simple way and run the random number generator.

If not, I thank Waves From Around the World would do well tied with <400 Checks, or perhaps even Travel the World. The latter would also work with LGBTIQ+ stories from around the world.

Re: 1000<400, we could also do it immediately after the 400<500 results, so if the schedule is the same next year, November.

Animation likely works best with sci-fi/fantasy.

[St. Gloede]

Great outcome with regards to brand new challenges...

Yeah, I think the power-voting really helped in that regard. I think I'll do private message voting again next year.

I am still for making double/triple as hard as possible, both to avoid that one very popular challenge hijacking the two others and (maybe) allow more variety in winners.

That's a very good point about variety of winners, hurlu. Totally agree there.

Agreed with all of this. The power voting allowed new and exciting ideas to break through, and they may have stronger followings because of it.

Really looking forward to seeing the participation in these new challenges.

I'm just really happy and excited about these results. I think 2020 will be our most Dynamic challenge tear yet, and so happy the two ideas I pushed that survived the original voting, made it through. (Experimental and Waves From Around the World).

[sol]

Sorry if it wasn't clear. My last sentence was rather meant as a critique. I think the DtC nominee challenge should not particularly focus on 1000>400 movies and vice versa. Put them in different months, preferably even with a month in-between (because both challenges do have a similar type of movies)

OK, we can separate them.

Some more input from others would be appreciated. Should the concurrent challenges try to maximize or minimize doubles and triples or should that not be taken into account at all?

I feel like we've discussed this a lot already over the past four years that I've run the setting up of the schedule. We've tried it both ways ("easy triples" and "difficult triples"). We are never going to get consensus on whether people want them easy or not, so surely going in between is best?

There were some comments recently about people saying that they usually don't participate because they don't like the idea of simply making a numbered list of everything they watched that fits the theme. Granted, that's more related to discussions (or lack thereof) but it seems to me that this would be a good opportunity to review challenges and the process of choosing them as a whole. I personally wouldn't have a problem if we simply proceed the way we do but if we would end up with some fresh ideas and additional participation, it would be a win

Well, we were planning to discuss challenge rules (e.g. TV eligibility) once we had already established the schedule. Seems a little premature at the moment.

[72aicm]

I’d love to have the 1000<400 challenge in January again. The poll is then relatively fresh and it worked well last time. Traditions and all that.

I’ll leave the rest of the schedule up to you guys. Good luck!

[St. Gloede]

Oh, maybe Run the Director could be tied with Directed by Women, to maximise the people who may choose to focus on women directors?

[sol]

The one thing I think is missing a little is combos, for instance, run the Actor does not jive that well with travel the world

Didn't you see my discussion with Roger? The idea would be to follow an actor like Klaus Kinski around the world with all of his international productions. And whatever goes with Travel the World should not be something that leads to easy doubles.

If not, I thank Waves From Around the World would do well tied with <400 Checks, or perhaps even Travel the World. The latter would also work with LGBTIQ+ stories from around the world.

I prefer LGBTIQ+ stories from every year as per the country set-up, but that is an interesting point and something to consider.

Waves Around the World can't go with Travel the World (too much overlap). It could go with <400 checks, though dunno about overlap.

Re: 1000<400, we could also do it immediately after the 400<500 results, so if the schedule is the same next year, November.

Suggested this already, but everybody seems to want it early on, so I'm going to try for March.

Animation likely works best with sci-fi/fantasy.

Not if you want to limit your doubles and triples...

[sol]

Great outcome with regards to brand new challenges...

Yeah, I think the power-voting really helped in that regard. I think I'll do private message voting again next year.

I am still for making double/triple as hard as possible, both to avoid that one very popular challenge hijacking the two others and (maybe) allow more variety in winners.

That's a very good point about variety of winners, hurlu. Totally agree there.

Agreed with all of this.

Chris - just acknowledging that you yourself have said that you agree that doubles and triples shouldn't be easy...

[St. Gloede]

Oh, I thought the point was to maximise the amount of doubles and triples, not limit them.

Travelling actors are not a bad idea, though only really relevant for a limited amount of countries (at least if we are talking about larger names) But if the idea is to limit the doubles and triples, this makes more sense.

[sol]

Leaving the countries to the side for the moment as per hurlu's suggestion, I've had a play around with adding some of the remaining themes and genres in to allow some (but not a lot) of room for doubles and triples. Thoughts?

I'll hide this under a spoiler tag since it's just me playing around for the moment:

Spoiler

2021 Challenge Schedule: A Work in Progress

Month	Country Challenge	Theme Challenge	Theme Challenge
January	-	Sci-Fi/Fantasy	Waves from Around World
February	-	Experimental/Avant-Garde	Run the Director
March	-	Directed by Women	1000<400
April	-	Doubling the Canon Nominees	Animation
May	-	Western	Mystery & Thriller
June	-	One Film From Each Year	LGBTIQ+
July	-	Travel the World	Run the Actor
August	-	<400 Checks	Action & Adventure
September	-	Silent Era	Low IMDb Rating
October	-	Horror	One Film From Each iCM List
November	-	Film Noir	War movies
December	-	Documentary	Unofficial

[St. Gloede]

Yeah, I think the power-voting really helped in that regard. I think I'll do private message voting again next year.
That's a very good point about variety of winners, hurlu. Totally agree there.

Agreed with all of this.

Chris - just acknowledging that you yourself have said that you agree that doubles and triples shouldn't be easy...

Haha, no, sorry, I misread this completely. I thought it was arguing that we should avoid a big challenge stopping participation in another, ie not putting them in competition.

[St. Gloede]

Just to be clear I don't feel strongly either way, I am just really surprised the goal isn't overlaps - but rereading Hurlu's post, it makes sense.

[OldAle1]

Iran/Central Asia would work well in December, lots of documentary work in that region; the rest of the Middle East I'd say much earlier in the year - I think it's good to have close regions separated a bit, just as it is with close genres. But to be fair as I think about it, every country has lots of documentaries so I'm not sure how much the December country slot really matters.

[sol]

Iran/Central Asia would work well in December, lots of documentary work in that region; the rest of the Middle East I'd say much earlier in the year - I think it's good to have close regions separated a bit, just as it is with close genres. But to be fair as I think about it, every country has lots of documentaries so I'm not sure how much the December country slot really matters.

Yeah, I think every region has tons of docs, but let's place Central Asia in there for now as (possibly?) the smallest 2021 region in terms of available subbed output.

Let's also plug in Italy and Korea where suggested, as well as some of my suggestions from above:

• 1000<400 in March to keep it early in the year without doubling it up with Sci-fi/Fantasy again
• Low IMDb Rating with Silents - limited doubles (but some)
• One Film From Each iCM List with Horror - expand our horror horizons

Thoughts everyone?

2021 Challenge Schedule: A Work in Progress

Month	Country Challenge	Theme Challenge	Theme Challenge
January	-	Sci-Fi/Fantasy	-
February	-	Experimental/Avant-Garde	Run the Director
March	UK/Ireland	Directed by Women	1000<400
April	-	Doubling the Canon Nominees	-
May	-	Western	-
June	Italy	One Film From Each Year	LGBTIQ+
July	France	Travel the World	Run the Actor
August	Korean Peninsula	<400 Checks	-
September	-	Silent Era	Low IMDb Rating
October	-	Horror	One Film From Each iCM List
November	-	Film Noir	War movies
December	Iran & Central Asia	Documentary	-

Countries/regions that still need to be placed	Themes that still need to be placed
Argentina/Brazil/Uruguay Benelux Eastern Europe - excluding Russia and Balkans Japan Latin America - excluding Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico & Caribbean Middle East - excluding Iran Oceania	Mystery & Thriller Action & Adventure Waves from Around World Animation Unofficial

[Melvelet]

On scheduling, I would avoid having these too close from each other:
[...]
- Travel the world and Waves around the world
[...]

Maybe it was already defined in the nomination thread but so far I focussed on the Wave part more that the 'around the world' part. Is it about a certain way of filmmaking (including New Wave-y movies from countries that were not part of a larger scene) or about a fixed set of New Waves?