You can post a list of anywhere between 5 and 20 films (or more, but only 20 will be counted) from the year we're covering. The deciding factor in terms of release dates is the RYM list and the top 10 of each year will go on to the final top 100 round. The deadline is January 16th.

The points scheme is as follows:
1. 50 points
2. 40
3. 35
4. 30
5. 25
6. 20
7. 18
8. 16
9. 14
10. 12
11. 10
10. 9
...
20. 1
However, these are the maximum amounts of points. If you want to put certain films on your list but don't want to give them too many points, you can choose to give these less points than in this scheme (but never more) to decrease the impact on the overall results. If you don't specifically state that you want to give (some of) your films fewer points, I will assume the standard scheme.

Here are some lists to remind you of the great (or awful) films released in 1996, from a variety of sources:
IMDb
RYM
Films101
RottenTomatoes

1. L'appartement (The Appartment) – Gilles Mimouni
2. Moebius – Gustavo Mosquera
3. La vida privada (Private Life) – Vicente Pérez Herrero
4. Le huitième jour (The Eighth Day) – Jaco Van Dormael
5. The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Gary Trousdale / Kirk Wise
6. Multiplicity – Harold Ramis
7. Cosas que nunca te dije (Things I Never Told You) – Isabel Coixet
8. The English Patient – Anthony Minghella
9. Welcome to the Dollhouse – Todd Solondz
10. Flirting with Disaster – David O. Russell
11. Fargo – Joel Coen
12. Mission: Impossible – Brian de Palma
13. El amor perjudica seriamente la salud (Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health) – Manuel Gómez Pereira
14. Sister, My Sister – Nancy Meckler
15. Everyone Says I Love You – Woody Allen
16. Secretos del corazón (Secrets of the Heart) – Montxo Armendáriz
17. Profundo carmesí (Deep Crimson) – Arturo Ripstein
18. The Funeral – Abel Ferrara
19. Secret & Lies – Mike Leigh
20. Crash – David Cronemberg

21. The Truth About Cats & Dogs – Michael Lehmann
22. Asaltar los cielos (Storm the Skies) – José Luis López Linares / Javier Rioyo
23. The Rock – Michael Bay
24. Tierra (Earth) – Julio Médem
25. Kansas City – Robert Altman

1. Breaking the Waves / Lars von Trier / Denmark
2. Sling Blade / Billy Bob Thornton / U.S.
3. Lone Star / John Sayles / U.S.
4. Trees Lounge / Steve Buscemi / U.S.
5. La promesse / Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne / Belgium
6. The Funeral / Abel Ferrara / U.S.
7. Fargo / Joel Coen / U.S.
8. Gabbeh / Mohsen Makhmalbaf / Iran
9. Irma Vep / Olivier Assayas / France
10. Flirting with Disaster / David O. Russell / U.S.
11. Secrets & Lies / Mike Leigh / U.K.
12. Girl 6 / Spike Lee / U.S.
13. Hard Eight / Paul Thomas Anderson / U.S.
14. Goodbye South, Goodbye / Hou Hsiao-hsien / Taiwan
15. Bottle Rocket / Wes Anderson / U.S.

1. Breaking the Waves - Lars von Trier
2. Comment je me suis disputé... (ma vie sexuelle) [My Sex Life ... or How I Got Into an Argument] - Arnaud Desplechin
3. Trainspotting - Danny Boyle
4. Fargo - Coen
5. Un Héros Très Discret [A Self-Made Hero] - Jacques Audiard
6. Crash - David Cronenberg
7. The Funeral - Abel Ferrara
8. La promesse - Jean-Pierre Dardenne / Luc Dardenne
9. Secrets & Lies - Mike Leigh
10. Un air de famille [Family Resemblances] - Cédric Klapisch
11. Microcosmos: Le peuple de l'herbe [Microcosmos] - Claude Nuridsany / Marie Pérennou
12. When We Were Kings - Leon Gast
13. Bernie - Albert Dupontel
14. Basquiat - Julian Schnabel
15. Encore - Pascal Bonitzer
16. Y aura-t-il de la neige à Noël ? - Sandrine Veysset

1. Sling Blade
2. Scream
3. Secrets & Lies
4. Kauas pilvet karkaavat [Drifting Clouds]
5. Fargo
6. Romeo + Juliet
7. When We Were Kings
8. Breaking the Waves
9. Brassed Off
10. Conte d'été [A Summer's Tale]
11. Lone Star
12. Trainspotting
13. Shine

Happiness is my favourite film ever, but I saw Welcome to the Dollhouse afterwards and was disappointed. I might change opinion if I see it again but from what I remember the film would have been better if she had been less unattractive and dorky.

I loved Drifting Clouds. A woman and her husband lose their jobs at the same time. The more they keep begging for help and looking to government programs, the deeper into poverty they fall. Finally, they take control of their own destiny and start their own business. It's a far more pro-capitalist film than you'd generally expect from Scandanavia.

I also strongly recommend Little Dieter Needs To Fly. Herzog is the only documentary filmmaker who I consistently like.

I'll never understand the appeal of Breaking The Waves. It strikes me as yet another of his 'Beat up on the naive woman' films with one of the most absurd premises in film history.

All I still need to see is La Promesse and Tierra. Anything else from 1996 that looks interesting isn't from the US, Western Europe, or Japan, so there's no chance of anyone else watching it.

1. Kauas pilvet karkaavat [Drifting Clouds]
2. Breaking the Waves
3. Pusher
4. Trainspotting
5. Fargo
6. Welcome to the Dollhouse
7. スワロウテイル [Swallowtail Butterfly]
8. Lone Star
9. Suburbia
10. Bound
11. Get on the Bus
12. Secrets & Lies
13. Sleepers
14. The People vs. Larry Flynt
15. Shine
16. Hard Eight [Sydney]
17. From Dusk Till Dawn
18. Primal Fear
19. Crash
20. Jerry Maguire

I knew I could count on Petri to vote for Pusher. I will probably also have it at #3 or #4, so we really need another vote.

1. Fargo
2. The Rock
3. Waiting For Guffman
4. Star Trek: First Contact
5. Mission: Impossible
6. Welcome to the Dollhouse
7. Kingpin
8. People Vs. Larry Flynt

1 - Kingpin
2 - Fargo
3 - The Rock
4 - Bevis & Butthead Do America
5 - Bottle Rocket
6 - Waiting for Guffman
7 - Escape From L.A.*
8 - Cannibal the Musical
9 - Executive Decision
10 - The Frighteners
11 - Mission Impossible
12 - Don’t Be A Menace
13 - Suburbia
14 - Flirting With Disaster
15 - Eraser*

*have horrible cgi, but the movies are so over the top I can look past it.

At least I'm not the only one voting for movies that exist purely to entertain!

I'm going to be voting for Beavis & Butthead. That movie entertains me. Michael Bay movies do not.

Not all films on my lists entertain me, but my 2010 list would include Scott Pilgrim, Machete, and Kick-Ass, so clearly many of them do. But, I like being interested or visually excited as much as I like being entertained. So also on my lists are films that interest me and films that are simply beautiful to look at.

It's the latter of those that seem to get the shaft in these games.

1996:

1.Breaking the Waves
2.La Promesse
3.The English Patient
4.Secrets & Lies
5.Fargo
6.Shine
7.Brassed Off
8.Jerry Maguire
9.Lone Star
10.Crash
11.Sling Blade
12.Trainspotting

Since it seems Tierra has no shot, I might as well publish my list now.

Fargo
Drifting Clouds
La Promesse
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
Lone Star
Secrets & Lies
Beavis & Butthead Do America
Star Trek: First Contact
Jerry Maguire (1 point)

01. Tierra (Julio Medem)
02. Fargo (Joel & Ethan Coen)
03. Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh)
04. Trainspotting (Danny Boyle)
05. The English Patient (Anthony Minghella)
06. Lone Star (John Sayles)
07. Shine (Scott Hicks)
08. Tesis (Alejandro Amenábar)
09. Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton)
10. Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier) 10
11. Le Huitième Jour (Jaco Van Dormael) 5

The first three films are really excellent. 1996 has some really good films, but not a lot of them, unfortunately.

1. Fargo
2. Breaking the Waves
3. Secrets & Lies
4. Lone Star
5. Trainspotting
6. Romeo + Juliet
7. Sling Blade
8. The People vs. Larry Flynt
9. Welcome to the Dollhouse
10. Jerry Maguire

Lone Star has one of my all-time favorite lines of dialogue, punctuating a conversation between two of its many vividly drawn minor characters. Two middle-aged Army sergeants are discussing a trip one is planning with his girlfriend, a fellow sergeant who's African-American:

"She's taking me home to meet her family."
"They gonna be OK with you being white?"
"Well, she tells me her family assumes that any woman over 30 who's not married must be a lesbian. She figures they'll be so thrilled I'm a guy they won't care what color I am."
"Yeah, it's always heartwarming to see one prejudice defeated by a deeper one."

It was a weak year dude. My 1997 list has movies from China, Lithuania, Romania, Taiwan, Russia, and Iran. And a bunch from the US as well.

What about Italy? It has the best film of 1997, after all.

This year, two of my all time favorite movies, but I agree with some of you, not a huge yeart of cinéma.
1. Un air de famille (Cédric Klapish)
2. Fargo (Joel Coen)
3. Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier)
4. Les voleurs (André Téchiné)
5. Secrets & Lies (Mike leigh)
6. Ridicule (Patrice Leconte)
7. Trainspotting (Danny Boyle)
8. Secret & Lies (Mike Leigh)
9. Bernie (Albert Dupontel)
10. Crash (David Cronemberg)
11. Everyone Says I Love You (Woody Allen)
12. La promesse (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
13. Un Héros Très Discret (Jacques Audiard)
14. Le cinquième élément (Luc Besson)
15. The English Patient (Anthony Minghella)
16. Microcosmos (Claude nuridsany)

Romain: You've listed Secrets & Lies twice. I'll count the first one and switch everything below 8 up one spot.

Was planning to watch another film yesterday evening, but I couldn't find the time, so here's my list:

1. Fargo (Ethan Coen / Joel Coen)
2. Trainspotting (Danny Boyle)
3. Pusher (Nicolas Winding Refn)
4. Drifting Clouds (Aki Kaurismäki)
5. Primal Fear (Gregory Hoblit)
6. Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh)
7. When We Were Kings (Leon Gast)
8. Happy Gilmore (Dennis Dugan)

And that results in the following top 10, with the first year ever in which a film gets points from every single voter. Not as many as Pulp Fiction, though. With 75 votes Michael Bay gets through with the least ever points, making him an early candidate for #100 on the final list.

Title (Director) - Points/Votes/#1s
1. Fargo (Joel Coen) - 453/13/4
2. Breaking The Waves (Lars von Trier) - 291/8/3
3. Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh) - 228/11/0
4. Trainspotting (Danny Boyle) - 198/8/0
5. Kauas pilvet karkaavat [Drifting Clouds] (Aki Kaurismäki) - 150/4/1
6. Lone Star (John Sayles) - 150/7/0
7. Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton) - 132/5/1
8. La Promesse (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) - 126/5/0
9. The English Patient (Anthony Minghella) - 83/4/0
10. The Rock (Michael Bay) - 75/2/0

Close:
Pusher (70)

The Coen Brothers join Kieslowski in having three films in the next round and Mike Leigh is the 9th director to have 2 films in the second round.

Europa didn't make it to the next round, it only received 45 points. I did forget about von Trier though, he did get a second film through.

For some reason I thought Europa made it through.