2020 Cup - probably shorts, by year, director or country... or <views

[---]

I'm gonna give the Cup another shot this year. We started off with a lot of participation last year, but it dwindled harder than ever before. I think the Cup is too long to sustain a significant interest of this small a group, especially when we (awesomely!) have so many other exercises going on. Thus, I'm going to try it with shorts. That will also make the matches easier to participate in generally, since like, voting in a match won't require 4 hrs of watching time.

I know some people have wanted shorts in the past, and some have been totally against it. But I think it will get the most widespread participation. I encourage everyone to watch the match-ups, even if you don't want to manage.

How does this work??
Let's say we do countries. Everyone picks a country, and picks a retrospective composed of 5 shorts that they think best shows off that country. You can pick unknown gems or indie classics, but like, don't pick La Jetee or Un Chien Andalou. You are trying to get people to vote for your movie, but you are also trying to show the community things they haven't seen/discussed that you want people to have seen, or want to talk about, and so on.

Each one of your five movies will go up against someone else's movie. The community will collectively watch the combatting films around the same time (we take turns being the curators/competitors), and vote for their favourite. There is no elimination; even if you ""lose"" (I say this lightly, no one takes it too seriously) the first four match-ups, you'll get a fifth.

Even though it's pretty non-serious, we will have a winner: whoever wins the most of their match-ups. Last year we did Years (with features though, not shorts), and 1972 (managed by Karl) won in a playoff.

Want to come for Karl's crown? Think you have a handle on the community's taste? Know some great short films that people haven't seen, but need to see? Just want to participate in a fun movie club where we take turns picking movies to watch? Literally ANY (or all) of those apply to you? Then enter the 2020 Cup!

Possible parametres for each individual's retrospectives:
- Director
- Country
- Year
- nothing, but all movies must be <x views on letterboxd. Like, fewer than 10,000 people or 5,000 have logged the movie.

If you are interested in managing, please:

1. say so in this thread
2. rank your preference for managing a director, a year, country, or not having any parametre at all

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Managing:
bure
mesnalty
flip
Mario Gaborovic
josiahmorgan11
greennui

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mentioned interest in a shorts cup last year:

augusto?
Evelyn?

[mesnalty]

I'll manage! I don't have a strong preference, but if I was forced to choose: director > country > year.

[---]

I'm managing

My preference: Director, Year, Country, no parametre

[flip]

for shorts, i'll manage and probably watch everything too - it's the time commitment with features that has prevented me in the past. haven't given any thought to how i'd rank director, country, year, but probably would prioritize country, year, then director.

[kanafani]

The last cup was just too sad and disheartening. I’ll sit this one out.

[Mario Gaborovic]

I'm in for the shorts.

[thoxans]

if it's shorts, i'll plan on watching and voting. trying to participate more, since it seems the forum might be dying. my problem is where i live the internet sux big time. i can't stream anything after five pm, and downloading whole movies would take me days, while hindering my ability to work remotely. we have lots of pretty trees and wildlife tho

[josiahmorgan11]

i would love to be involved next year if it was a shorts cup !! i support the number of views idea

[---]

if it's shorts, i'll plan on watching and voting. trying to participate more, since it seems the forum might be dying. my problem is where i live the internet sux big time. i can't stream anything after five pm, and downloading whole movies would take me days, while hindering my ability to work remotely. we have lots of pretty trees and wildlife tho

there's definitely less activity than there was when we first switched over from tapatalk, but i don't think the forum's dying. the sci-fi and 2010 polls have received lots of activity, for instance

but we could definitely use some new blood, as, like any other community, we lose ppl now and again... but don't seem to be gaining anyone to replace them...

[karl]

I'm with Kanafani. Time to stop the "Cups," bure.

[greennui]

I'm in as well.

[sally]

if it's shorts, i'll plan on watching and voting. trying to participate more, since it seems the forum might be dying. my problem is where i live the internet sux big time. i can't stream anything after five pm, and downloading whole movies would take me days, while hindering my ability to work remotely. we have lots of pretty trees and wildlife tho

okay i'm not going to stalk you, but i'm curious where such a place is? roughly?

[flip]

i'm curious too! i just moved into the middle of a forest too (on an island just off montreal)

[---]

I'm with Kanafani. Time to stop the "Cups," bure.

well, we have 6 participants...

even if only us 6 vote, i think it'll be worthwhile. i know i'm excited to see what shorts others dig

[flip]

yeah a shorts format is the most likely to work, and if a few people are into it, we should do it. anyone who doesn't like cups can change the channel easily enough, there are other threads to read here.

[thoxans]

i'm curious

nowhere fancy. midsoutheastern us. longleaf pine country. nearest 'neighbor' is at least a couple miles down the road. we had a road paving crew out in front of the house one day a couple weeks back, and that was our version of exciting. but don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, and awesome in its own way. there's an uberaffluent golf/resort town/village not too far away to satisfy my intermittent desires for the luxuries of civilization, including human contact (however brief). basically, what it comes down to is: satellite internet suxxx!!! there are data caps. during peak hours, streaming becomes unwatchable (five min of movie followed by five min of buffering followed by five min of movie followed by five min of buffering, and so on). and if it's raining outside, forget about it altogether. but this is what you sacrifice when you decide to live in a place cuz you can pee outside without a care in the world

[rischka]

this reminds me of trump saying you can't watch tv cuz the wind isn't blowing

[augusto]

can manage and watch if it's shorts.

[Mauries]

I'm not sure if I have enough time, but if we do shorts I can manage (after all, I'm a short film programmer).

[rischka]

same as above

(hi mauries and augusto good to see you guys)

[---]

people who have said they're interested:

mesnalty (D-C-Y)
bure (D-Y-C)
crypt trotsky (C-Y-D)
Mario Gaborovic (C-Y-D)
josiahmorgan11 (D-Y-C)
augusto
Mauries (D/C-Y)
rischka
greennui

Are all these people still interested? If so, what is your director/country/year preference, if any?

Right now

director-13.5 points
country-12.5
year-10

[Mario Gaborovic]

C-Y-D

[Mauries]

Still in. No real preferences, but I prefer director and country slightly above year

[josiahmorgan11]

director, then year, then country

[---]

ok i guess director wins out slightly, so everyone who's in pick a director

please post your director's name here, and PM me your five shorts, in order of round appearance. you can change future movies whenever you want until its match starts. there is NO ELIMINATION, so everyone shows five films

we should probably decide what a "short" film is... <40? <45? <60?

[---]

i'll manage bill brown

[josiahmorgan11]

I'd say <45mins qualifies as a short, but I'm planning to keep mine to under 30mins anyway.

I'll manage Joseph Bernard.

[greennui]

people who have said they're interested:

mesnalty (D-C-Y)
bure (D-Y-C)
crypt trotsky (C-Y-D)
Mario Gaborovic (C-Y-D)
josiahmorgan11 (D-Y-C)
augusto
Mauries (D/C-Y)
rischka

I was also interested btw, though 5 shorts by the same director seems a bit steep imo. I've got lots of shorts as favourites but I doubt if I have five ones by the same director.

[mesnalty]

I'll manage Margaret Tait

[Mauries]

I'll do Eduardo Williams or Ben Russell