2023 Challenges: Setting Up the Schedule

[sol]

Since we are on Page 2 of this thread, here's an update of where we are at:

Added in some options that seemed to be seconded:
- Argentina etc with Directed by Women
- France in July
- Benelux with LGBTIQ+
- Crime with Silent

There seems to debate over whether to pair Central Europe or MENA with Documentary?

2023 Challenge Schedule: A Work in Progress

Month	Country Challenge	Theme Challenge	Theme Challenge
January	-	Sci-Fi/Fantasy	1000<400
February	-	Academy Award Nominees	New Releases
March	Argentina/Brazil/Uruguay/Paraguay	Directed by Women	Sight & Sound Lists
April	-	Doubling the Canon Nominees	-
May	-	Western	Run the Actor
June	Benelux	LGBTIQ+	-
July	France	Travel the World	Musical
August	-	<400 Checks
September	-	Silent Era	Crime
October	Italy (plus Holy See/San Marino/Malta)	Horror	-
November	-	Film Noir	-
December	-	Documentary	-

Countries/regions that still need to be placed	Themes that still need to be placed
Central Europe (Poland, Czech, Slovak, Hungary) Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia Japan Korean Peninsula North African/Middle East - excluding Iran and Turkey Oceania South America - excluding Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay UK/Ireland	Animation War Run the Director Low IMDb Rating Doubling the Canon iCM List (Undecided 9th Option)

[sol]

By the way, all this setting up, debating and taking everyone's opinions into account is already starting to wear me down. I'm thinking of maybe pushing the pause button for now until Lonewolf takes over on Sunday.

[OldAle1]

I personally would be disappointed in seeing Low Rating + Doc - it would certainly cause me to de-prioritize the latter; low-rated docs are even less appealing than low-rated animation to me. But I'd probably agree on not putting animation + horror together; I really think it makes the most sense to have horror with a country that has at least some horror, not another genre (unless that genre would be sci-fi). I guess overall I don't like the counter-programming idea in general - I think we are best off having as many challenges as possible not in conflict with others the same month.

[Lonewolf2003]

By the way, all this setting up, debating and taking everyone's opinions into account is already starting to wear me down. I'm thinking of maybe pushing the pause button for now until Lonewolf takes over on Sunday.

A little personal advice that might give you some breathing room; you don’t have to check and comment in this thread constantly, every waking minute. You can also step back for awhile and see what been said later today or tomorrow again.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

I'd vote for Animation in September with Silent Era. Not much overlap there either and I feel like the interests are diverse enough.

I think Crime in April would be good to give it some distance from Film Noir (LOTS of overlap between those too).

Those two might work better, indeed. I hadn't factored in the closeness to Noirvember.

[Lonewolf2003]

I'd vote for Animation in September with Silent Era. Not much overlap there either and I feel like the interests are diverse enough.

I think Crime in April would be good to give it some distance from Film Noir (LOTS of overlap between those too).

Those two might work better, indeed. I hadn't factored in the closeness to Noirvember.

I agree with putting some distance between Noir and Crime.

Maybe put Crime in April and pair it up with Korea. A country that seems to specialize in the genre last few decades.

[airdolll]

I also like the idea of Run the Director in June as maybe an additional reason for people to check out filmographies of LBGTQ+ directors.

I like this idea!
How about Central Europe in May? Or other popular countries as an alternative for the non western fans. Since Japan can't be and Argentina, Brazil, France and Italy have been assigned, that one would be my personal preference.

[Silga]

I initially suggested Crime in September, but now I agree that it might be too close to November's Film-Noir challenge.

[Lonewolf2003]

I also like the idea of Run the Director in June as maybe an additional reason for people to check out filmographies of LBGTQ+ directors.

I like this idea!
How about Central Europe in May? Or other popular countries as an alternative for the non western fans. Since Japan can't be and Argentina, Brazil, France and Italy have been assigned, that one would be my personal preference.

I liked a before mentioned pairing of Oceania with Western.

[Silga]

I personally would be disappointed in seeing Low Rating + Doc - it would certainly cause me to de-prioritize the latter

Agreed!

I'd still love to see Low Rating in June though.

[OldAle1]

I also like the idea of Run the Director in June as maybe an additional reason for people to check out filmographies of LBGTQ+ directors.

I like this idea!
How about Central Europe in May? Or other popular countries as an alternative for the non western fans. Since Japan can't be and Argentina, Brazil, France and Italy have been assigned, that one would be my personal preference.

I liked a before mentioned pairing of Oceania with Western.

+1. There is some overlap there, but not an enormous amount, and I definitely find it fun to seek out westerns from other spaces & places myself. And I'd hate to have to choose between westerns and Central Europe, personally.

[Lonewolf2003]

For the last slot for October:
It make sense indeed not to pair Horror with another pure major genre, so not with Animation or War. Also not with RtD, cause that’s highly popular too. That leaves Low IMDb Rating or Doubling the Canon iCM List. The later is a nice counter balance for the not Horror fans, plus it puts distance between it and DTC nominees in April. The former of course would mean a lot of overlap.

Or the Undecided 9th Option.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

For the last slot for October:
It make sense indeed not to pair Horror with another pure major genre, so not with Animation or War. Also not with RtD, cause that’s highly popular too. That leaves Low IMDb Rating or Doubling the Canon iCM List. The later is a nice counter balance for the not Horror fans, plus it puts distance between it and DTC nominees in April. The former of course would mean a lot of overlap.

Or the Undecided 9th Option.

Yeah, that was my way of seeing it. Any one of those three would be cool with me.

[Silga]

I think Doubling the Canon iCM List would be the best fit for October's second challenge.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

+2 on Oceania and Westerns. Nice idea!

[Lonewolf2003]

I also still like the idea of pairing War with Docs.

How about pairing RtD with <400 checks, might be a good opportunity to explore lesser watched Directors or lesser watched works from (major) directors.

[sol]

By the way, all this setting up, debating and taking everyone's opinions into account is already starting to wear me down. I'm thinking of maybe pushing the pause button for now until Lonewolf takes over on Sunday.

A little personal advice that might give you some breathing room; you don’t have to check and comment in this thread constantly, every waking minute. You can also step back for awhile and see what been said later today or tomorrow again.

That's probably a valid point, but just to confirm, I have decided that I don't want to be doing this with my final weekend before returning back to work on Monday, so at this stage, things are paused, and I won't be updating the schedule in process.

You are welcome to take over now, or whenever you want, Lonewolf - or if somebody else wants to take over sifting through everyone's opinions instead, you're more than welcome.

Have a great weekend everyone!

[OldAle1]

I also still like the idea of pairing War with Docs.

How about pairing RtD with <400 checks, might be a good opportunity to explore lesser watched Directors or lesser watched works from (major) directors.

I like both of these a lot.

[gunnar]

Have a great weekend, sol. I hope that it's nice and relaxing.

[blocho]

If this is your formal handoff, sol, thanks so much for putting this all together again.

[airdolll]

How about pairing RtD with <400 checks, might be a good opportunity to explore lesser watched Directors or lesser watched works from (major) directors.

+2! A lot of the directors I have in mind for that challenge are in the <400 territory.

You too have a great weekend Sol! Thank you for the work despite being an inconvenient time for you.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

I also like War with Docs and Under 400 Checks with Run the Director.

Thanks so much for devoting so much time to this, Sol. Enjoy your weekend!

[St. Gloede]

If this is your formal handoff, sol, thanks so much for putting this all together again.

+1

Great work on setting everything up.

[Lonewolf2003]

By the way, all this setting up, debating and taking everyone's opinions into account is already starting to wear me down. I'm thinking of maybe pushing the pause button for now until Lonewolf takes over on Sunday.

A little personal advice that might give you some breathing room; you don’t have to check and comment in this thread constantly, every waking minute. You can also step back for awhile and see what been said later today or tomorrow again.

That's probably a valid point, but just to confirm, I have decided that I don't want to be doing this with my final weekend before returning back to work on Monday, so at this stage, things are paused, and I won't be updating the schedule in process.

You are welcome to take over now, or whenever you want, Lonewolf - or if somebody else wants to take over sifting through everyone's opinions instead, you're more than welcome.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thanks for all the work you've done, sol! Enjoy your weekend, sol.

I will take over from now.

[Lonewolf2003]

Okay, I've tried to fil out the schedule some more with all feedback so far. If I missed some, I'm sorry. Let me know.

Bold: Are set, cause either returning in their standard month of have major support in this thread.
Normal: Tentative ideas. opted here and supported but not set definitely yet. (Let's try to set these: so if you like them voice your support please)
Cursive: Options: Mentioned, but haven't picked up real support yet.
(Disclaimer: nothing is 200% set in stone, but we have to work from something. If completely necessary even the set ones with major support can still move around)

Month	Country Challenge	Theme Challenge	Theme Challenge
January	Central Europe	Sci-Fi/Fantasy	1000<400
February	-	Academy Award Nominees	New Releases
March	Argentina/Brazil/Uruguay/Paraguay	Directed by Women	Sight & Sound Lists
April	Korean Peninsula	Doubling the Canon Nominees	Crime
May	Oceania	Western	Run the Actor
June	Benelux	LGBTIQ+	Low IMDb Ratings
July	France	Travel the World	Musical
August	-	<400 Checks	Run the Director
September	Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia France Central Europe UK/Ireland	Silent Era	-
October	Italy (plus Holy See/San Marino/Malta)	Horror	Doubling the Canon iCM List Low IMDb Ratings
November	UK/Ireland Japan	Film Noir	-
December	Central Europe North African/Middle East Japan	Documentary	War

Countries/regions that still need to be placed	Themes that still need to be placed
Central Europe (Poland, Czech, Slovak, Hungary) Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia Japan Korean Peninsula North African/Middle East - excluding Iran and Turkey South America - excluding Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay UK/Ireland	Animation Low IMDb Ratings (Undecided 9th Option)

Some considerations:
Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia: Can't go in July, cause already paired with TdW in '21
Korean Peninsula: Can't go in August, cause already paired with <400 in '21
South America - excluding Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay: : Can't go in January, cause already paired with Sci-Fi/Fantasy in '21.
UK/Ireland: Can't go in March, cause already paired with DbW in '21

Animation: Can't go in November, cause already paired with Noir in '22 + Can't go in April cause already paired with DtC Nominees in '21.
War: Can't go in November, cause already paired with Noir in '21.
Run the Director: Can't go in June, cause already paired with Benelux in '21.
Low IMDb Rating: Can't go in September, cause already paired with Silents in '21.
(Disclaimer: We can do '21 pairings again if necessary, but if possible it's most fun to avoid them I think)

[Silga]

I like almost everything on this latest update.

Some suggestions:

I would like to see UK/Ireland placed in September.

Since the 9th Option is most likely going to be 1970s, the only remaining slot right now is November, since Animation can't go there.
I think it would be a waste to put 70s along with Film-Noir. Maybe if we are keeping everything else just like in this table, we could move Doubling the Canon iCM List to November and place 70s in October and Animation then goes to September.

There are plenty of choices from the 70s Horror and for those who are not interested in Horror challenge - there is an entire decade of films to choose from.

[St. Gloede]

I think Travel the World should be paired with a larger group of countries to add to the temptation of seeking out more than just the usual suspects. Since Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia cannot be paired with it this year and North African/Middle East is a great pairing with documentaries the best fit would be South America - excluding Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay.

I'm trying to think of a decent pairing for animation. If we don't want to do Japan, a good fit could be France, as it has a much smaller animation scene, but a long history, and enough overlaps. I'm not sure if the other countries have varied enough overlaps. Another good fit would be Central Europe (Czech and Hungarian animation in particular). Beyond these two options, Korean Peninsula might work.

I still like the idea of Central Europe and War though, so many great war films from this region. Another decent fit for war could be Benelux. Both the Netherlands and Belgium have a nice selection of WW2 films, and there might be much more to be uncovered there. For a more conventional pairing, there's UK/Ireland, which has an enormous library of war films (courtesy of the empire).

Low IMDb Ratings should go with a big country IMO, the current potential line-up of Italy, Horror and Low IMDb Ratings has enormous synergy (possibly too much if that's a concern).

[peeptoad]

This satisfies a # of requests from different people... just suggestions-

Month	Country Challenge	Theme Challenge	Theme Challenge
January	Central Europe	Sci-Fi/Fantasy	1000<400
February	France	Academy Award Nominees	New Releases
March	Argentina/Brazil/Uruguay/Paraguay	Directed by Women	Sight & Sound Lists
April	Korean Peninsula	Doubling the Canon Nominees	Crime
May	Oceania	Western	Run the Actor
June	Benelux	LGBTIQ+	(poll winner)
July	South America excl. B/A/U/P	Travel the World	Musical
August	Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia	<400 Checks	Run the Director
September	UK/Ireland	Silent Era	Animation
October	Italy (plus Holy See/San Marino/Malta)	Horror	Doubling the Canon iCM List
November	Japan	Film Noir	Low IMDB rating
December	North African/Middle East	Documentary	War

[Lonewolf2003]

I think Travel the World should be paired with a larger group of countries to add to the temptation of seeking out more than just the usual suspects. Since Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia cannot be paired with it this year and North African/Middle East is a great pairing with documentaries the best fit would be South America - excluding Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay.

I agree. France only is in July because of the national holiday and somebodies personal preference. You make a much stronger case for another pairing with TdW

I'm trying to think of a decent pairing for animation. If we don't want to do Japan, a good fit could be France, as it has a much smaller animation scene, but a long history, and enough overlaps. I'm not sure if the other countries have varied enough overlaps. Another good fit would be Central Europe (Czech and Hungarian animation in particular). Beyond these two options, Korean Peninsula might work.

I still like the idea of Central Europe and War though, so many great war films from this region. Another decent fit for war could be Benelux. Both the Netherlands and Belgium have a nice selection of WW2 films, and there might be much more to be uncovered there. For a more conventional pairing, there's UK/Ireland, which has an enormous library of war films (courtesy of the empire).

Low IMDb Ratings should go with a big country IMO, the current potential line-up of Italy, Horror and Low IMDb Ratings has enormous synergy (possibly too much if that's a concern).

Let’s wait first what the outcome of the mini poll is. Than see where to place the remaining Theme challenges, so after that we have a better view where to place the region challenges.

@peeptoad; thanks. Gives a good overview of a possible outcome so far

[flavo5000]

How about this? I juggled a few things around based on a couple of comments.

Month	Country Challenge	Theme Challenge	Theme Challenge
January	Central Europe	Sci-Fi/Fantasy	1000<400
February	France	Academy Award Nominees	New Releases
March	Argentina/Brazil/Uruguay/Paraguay	Directed by Women	Sight & Sound Lists
April	Korean Peninsula	Doubling the Canon Nominees	Crime
May	Oceania	Western	Run the Actor
June	Benelux	LGBTIQ+	(poll winner)
July	North African/Middle East	Travel the World	Musical
August	Japan	<400 Checks	Run the Director
September	UK/Ireland	Silent Era	Animation
October	Italy (plus Holy See/San Marino/Malta)	Horror	Doubling the Canon iCM List
November	South America excl. B/A/U/P	Film Noir	Low IMDB rating
December	Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia	Documentary	War

[jdidaco]

I like this latest iteration posted by flavo. Wouldn't change a thing.

[Lonewolf2003]

I think both peeptoad or flavo's schedule could work fine indeed. The only difference I can see is switching Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia and North African/Middle East. But didn't look too closely. Will look more and react more tomorrow. Than we will also know what the final entry will be. But that's looking to be 1970s, in which case it would make a good option for June indeed, cause it might be good to have a challenge with a very broad appeal next to the more niche challenges of Benelux and LGBTIQ+

[Silga]

I'm fine with Flavo's schedule if Doubling the Canon iCM List and Low IMDb Rating could be switched.

[flavo5000]

I'm fine with Flavo's schedule if Doubling the Canon iCM List and Low IMDb Rating could be switched.

It was pretty intentional to not put low imdb and horror together to avoid everyone just double posting nearly everything they watch.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

nm

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

UK with Animation is nice.

I wonder whether OldAle would prefer Low IMDb Ratings and DtC to be switched, so that there's more cross-over. There's probably some cross-over with Film Noir, but he's likely to have seen a good chunk of lowly-rated noirs.

Just a few thoughts. I like both the tables.

[airdolll]

Thank you flavo, the schedule looks good! August is quite the dream line-up for me. The poll for the last option ended, so now we can discuss the placement for 1970s as well.

[St. Gloede]

Central Europe also has an interesting sci-fi/fantasy history, so nice overlap for January if that ends up being the final line-up.

Japan + Run the Director could lead to an overload of Japanese directors, could be nice to highlight the directors from a less viewed area.

Not quite sure how I feel about Animation and Silent being paired, but it could prompt deep dives into silent shorts and work very well (you all know how rarely I watch shorts )

As mentioned I'd be more inclined to have North African/Middle East paired with Documentary than Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia, but I'm not opposed to it. Any particular reason for your choice, Flavo?

[Silga]

I'm fine with Flavo's schedule if Doubling the Canon iCM List and Low IMDb Rating could be switched.

It was pretty intentional to not put low imdb and horror together to avoid everyone just double posting nearly everything they watch.

So my final two cents on this:

Now that the 1970s is confirmed, I'd still see it as a better fit for either October or November and moving Low IMDb Rating to June (since we don't have a comedy challenge next year, I see Low Rating one as a way to watch comedies during summer given that comedies are often rated lower than say drama).

However, there are still plenty of good challenges in this lineup, so I'm happy nevertheless and looking forward to 2023.

Great job, Sol, Lonewolf and everyone really!

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Not quite sure how I feel about Animation and Silent being paired, but it could prompt deep dives into silent shorts and work very well (you all know how rarely I watch shorts )

As mentioned I'd be more inclined to have North African/Middle East paired with Documentary than Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia, but I'm not opposed to it. Any particular reason for your choice, Flavo?

I think the pairing of Animation and Silents is down to other slots being filled. The potential for cross-over wouldn't be that strong, but I'm fine with the pairing.

My initial thinking was to support your suggestion of North Africa/Middle East with Docs. The positives for exploration that I see from Flavo's revised pairings are MENA musicals and war films of the Soviet-era Central Asian states. I appreciate that these are two niche areas, so your initial suggestion may indeed work better and appeal to more challenge participants. Either would be fine with me.