Euro 2008 Film Festival: Rules, Kick-off

The Euro 2008 Soccer tournament is still a few months away (June 7) but I am already 7 films into my film festival. The full film line-up is not completed yet but here are the rules and guidelines I will be following:

Rules:

One film per country, for a total of 16 films.

The films will be divided into the 4 groups as per the soccer tournament:

Group A: Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey
Group B: Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland
Group C: Holland, Italy, Romania, France
Group D: Greece, Sweden, Spain, Russia

Each film will get a rating out of 10 in the group stage.

The top two films from each group will move onto the quarter-finals.

The draw for quarter-finals, semis and final will be made as per the soccer tournament.

In case of a tie between two films in the group stage, a head-to-head comparison will take place between the movies. Also, the same head-to-head rules will be used for the quarters, semis and finals

Head-to-Head rules

:
The films will compete against each other in 5 categories -- Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography & Production values.

-- If one film is superior to another film in a category, then it will get one point, while the other film will get 0.
-- If both films match each other in a category, they will score one point each.
-- If both films fail in a category, they will get 0 points each.
-- In case of a tie after these 5 categories, then a subjective vote tie-breaker will be used. This means that the film which sways me the most emotionally advances. I feel this is similar to the penalty kicks used to settle soccer games when two teams are tied after extra time.
Note: It is possible to have scores such as 3-2 or 5-5 (if both films score maximum on all 5 counts) in this scheme.

Film Festival Optional Guidelines

A few extras to make things interesting.

None of the films selected should be before 1960, as this was the year when the first Euro soccer tournament was held.

If possible, choose newer/recent films.

European soccer just like European film has changed a lot over the last few decades. The new soccer is faster, more physical and employs different tactics. So I want to look at newer films to reflect the new thinking/issues that exist in European culture.

If possible, choose films from newer/unfamiliar directors.

In soccer games, some managers often revert to picking players they are familiar with, even if better soccer players are out there. Similarly, it is easy to pick films from directors that I am familiar with. So I want to avoid that by giving chances to newer director's works.

Try to make some bold selections.

I want to get some film genres that I would not normally pick just to shake things up. An award winning drama vs a shock horror film? Why not?

Relevance to soccer:

This is the most challenging aspect. None of the films I have chosen have anything to do with soccer. But I want to judge each film using soccer as a foundation. It could be any trait found in the game, be it teamwork, or the crazy money that exists in the modern sport, etc.

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In the upcoming weeks, I will start putting up reviews of the films seen so far. In the meantime, here are some older notes:

Festival idea, First 5 films seen