I don't know why some countries have great cinemas and others don't -- Sweden vs. Norway and Finland is my perennial example -- but there's no denying we've all seen a lot more movies from Italy than Greece. So what are the best world cinemas?

I've allowed up to three picks, so vote on which countries rock the world cinematically. Oh, and I've left off the UK because they're ridiculously subsidized by the US and can scarcely count as foreign. Blast me for it all you want.

Bunch of Francophiles in Reelviews

In general, to any poster:

If you didn't pick Sweden, France, and Japan, I want to see your Top 100 lists and call your liars afterwards. Ironically, I'd say voting for Hong Kong actually makes more sense than China; the microcosm wins the day here (and this is big, since a lot of you probably know where my favorite movie of all time is from).

I didn't pick one, mainly because of a ridiculously disproportionate representation of certain countries over others on my movie CV. I'm looking at you, cheese-eating surrender monkeys...

I just did Sweden and France. Japan is doing more for me now that I've discovered Mizoguchi, but previously it left me largely cold

Yeah, France is miles ahead of most of these. The thing is that most of those might have already passed their peaks. In all seriousness, does Italy have any modern movies that can even begin to match those of the old masters? Same question for Sweden, Germany, Japan etc. Asia is and has been doing great things of late. However, the opposite is true for most of those countries. Apart from Japan, most of them have little or no proper history in cinema. So, apart from France, who do you vote for? The present or the past?

Interesting poll, but I how do you allocate international co-productions to specific countries? These days, European films in particular get their financing from a lot of sources. Take Lars von Trier's movies. Antichrist, for instance, was financed by Danish, German, Italian, Polish and Swedish sources, written and directed by a Dane, stars American and French actors, was filmed in Germany and post-production took place in Poland.

Also, I'm curious why you left the two countries off your list, which produce the most films in a year, even more than the U.S.: India and Nigeria.

And surely, South Korea has a more relevant film industry than Taiwan, for instance?

Mutts?

Although both countries produce more films than the United States, I don't think we'd be able to call them the best in world cinema until the forum actually watches one, let alone several. For better or worse, I don't think too many people here have indulged much in those cinemas, so it makes sense to me that they are not included. Ultimately, you can put either of them as other.

South Korea, though... if Iran's a choice then South Korea should be a choice, too. I don't think either country should be chosen EVER as overall world cinema, but if you were to say best RECENT world cinema, we're having a conversation. Frankly, Poland deserves to be a choice more than either country, or at the very least Russia/U.S.S.R./Soviet Union.

For the record, I put France, Japan, and Sweden.

South Korea should have been on there, but I don't esteem India or Nigeria very highly. The fact that they have the most output matters to me not at all. Other than Ray, Mira Nair, or perhaps Deepa Mehta, has India given much to the world? And you've got to be kidding if you think Nigeria is on par with Sweden and France