Last year, I set a reading challenge to myself. Each month starting on February, I’d read books of a particular genre or format. They were:
Children’s books and YA (February); Comics (March); Scripts (April); Short stories and / or essay collections (May); Novels (June); Legends and traditions (July); Autobiographies (August); Illustrated books (September); Anthologies (October); Poetry (November); and miscellany for December.
This challenge came form something quite simple: I had a too-long pile of books to read and didn’t know where to start. Besides, this way I would have a rough reading guide, which would include things that I felt I was not reading enough of or that I didn’t know well.
There were, of course, quite a few exceptions to the rule. And months were I wound up reading way more than I had planned; also the opposite, months where I barely finished one or two books.
All in all, the results were quite satisfying.
This year, then, I have decided to make another small challenge for myself. This time, a movie challenge.
Starting on February, I’ll be dedicating each month to a particular kind of movie, listed below. Not exclusively, and limited to home movies (anything I can find in DVD, Blu-Ray, Netflix and other online services); whatever I can find in theaters besides. I’ll try to write here my impressions of each film and a summary at the end of each month.
The challenge is:
- February: Gay and Queer movies (understanding “Queer” as a broad spectrum of sexuality; basically including anything that is not heterosexual).
- March: Latinoamerican Cinema (Mexico; Center and South America and the Caribbean).
- April: Science-fiction and Fantasy.
- May: Comedy.
- June: European Cinema.
- July: Documentaries.
- August: Asian, African and Oceanian Cinema.
- September: Animation.
- October: Horror.
- November: Thriller.
- December: Musicals.
Many of these are often intertwined (for example, Horror and Thriller often overlap); there may be movies that don’t fit any of these themes but are still included for several reasons (for example, Adventure, and it’s sub genre Western, can fit in the month of April). Some are wider than they seem: Comedy isn’t just a humorous movie; it also includes satire and parody. A musical is not just a movie with dance numbers; it can be a movie about music or a musician, a concert movie, and so on.
In theory this, too, will make a good guide for film-watching, and (I hope) a motivation to seek out certain titles I had neglected or just plain ignored until now.
Wish me luck…
