Judging Films, Categories and Roles Separately

Judges do not cast one overall vote for a film. They can be assigned across three layers: the film as a whole, a specific award category it competes in, and, where a category recognizes individual contributions, a specific crew role within the film. A score for cinematography is a different judgment from a score for the film overall, even when both are about the same film.

This matters because a film's overall quality and one person's contribution do not always move together. A visually striking film can have an unremarkable score, and a modest film can carry an outstanding performance. Collapsing these into a single number would erase exactly what a specialist category is meant to show.

Behind the scenes, festival staff assign judges by section, category and, where needed, specific films or roles, and can assign a judge to a whole category at once rather than film by film.