Here is a recap of the 16 films advancing to the knock-out round. Also, the total points earned by each group are listed. Each group could have earned a maximum of 36 points, that is 9 points for a film x 4 films.
1) Group A -- Total points 29
Mexico: In the Pit (2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
Uruguay: Gigante (2009, Adrian Biniez)
2) Group B -- Total points 29
Argentina: Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)
Greece: The Lost Monument (2009, Stefanos Tsivopoulos)
3) Group C -- Total points 27
USA: Ballast (2008, Lance Hammer)
Algeria: Daughter of Keltoum (2001, Mehdi Charef)
4) Group D -- Total points 28
Serbia: The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Mladen Djordjevic)
Germany: Dr. Mabuse The Gambler (1922, Fritz Lang)
5) Group E -- Total points 29
Japan: The Human Condition, part I (1959, Masaki Kobayashi)
Denmark: Flame and Citron (2008, Ole Christian Madsen)
6) Group F -- Total points 24
Paraguay: Paraguayan Hammock (2006, Paz Encina)
Italy: Il Divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)
7) Group G -- Total points 27
Portugal: Colossal Youth (2006, Pedro Costa)
North Korea: A Day in the Life (2004, Pieter Fleury)
8) Group H -- Total points 26
Honduras: El Porvenir (2008, Oscar Estrada)
Spain: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Victor Erice)
Groups A, B and E had the highest points total of 29 out of a possible 36, which is 81%. The lowest total went to Group F with 24 (67%). Overall, just 5 points separated the top groups from the bottom group, so there was an overall decent selection of films with no group falling too far behind in the quality of films.
Group A was quite close overall with the top two getting 8 points, the French entry getting 7 and the South African title picking up 6.
Five of the Eight groups had a film earning 9/9 points and safe to say, it will be these films that will feature the longest in the competition. Thankfully, no group winner earned less than 8 points.
This is the regional breakdown of the 16 teams:
Europe -- 7 (Greece, Serbia, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Portugal and Spain
It is not surprizing that seven European films progressed because Europe had the largest representation providing 41% of all the films with a total of 13 European entries out of 32.
North and Central America -- 3 (Mexico, USA, Honduras)
The North and Central American region performed best with all 3 entries progressing to the next round.
South America -- 3 (Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay)
Three of the five South American films progressed.
Asia -- 2 (Japan, North Korea)
The Asian films did quite well with 2 out of their 3 entries moving on with the South Korean film narrowly missing out despite earning 8 points. Even though Australia booked their place in the soccer World Cup from the Asian qualifying zone, I am placing the Australian film as part of Oceania along with New Zealand. Both Oceania films failed to advance to the next round.
Africa -- 1 (Algeria)
Unfortunately, only one of the six African titles advanced as the Algerian film took second place spot in Group C. The limited availability of films from some of the African countries such as Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cameroon meant that I had a very limited selection to choose from thereby forcing me to pick the first title I came across from these nations.
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