Is there a particular measure with which a film jury determines the quality of films that they view? Most probably, in certain film festivals, there is. Festivals that have been happening for some time now and have matured, probably, have a code for viewing and determining the merit of the wares that they scrutinise. This code might not be overtly stated, but could be discernible as a pattern in the kind of films it has viewed and honoured through the years. But as soon as one talks of a code, it smacks of a certain kind of dogmatism, or almost a pre-conception of what is wrong and what is right, that the jury would bring with it to the screenings.
Happily, Film South Asia (FSA), the biennial festival of South Asian documentaries in venue Kathmandu, is too young to be constrained in any such fashion. It is robustly teething, and has a youthful exuberance. My own experience as a jury member in both the first (in 1997) and the recently held second Film South Asia, has shown that above all, it is the films themselves that determine the method of rating them. Change a few of the set of films, and the response of the jury changes overall. In fact, the body of the 50 or so films play upon one's senses as a single unit. At least at a certain level.
Of course, the responses are also determined by the preferences and the prejudices of each member of the jury. One can only hope that these are not archaic, or do not stake any of the qualities of film-making because of certain other factors, simply because it is fashionable to do so, and so forth. The jury holds in abeyance its decision till the last moment of the festival. Despite a large number of good films viewed, they can only give a few prizes to any number of hopefuls.
The jury knows that now the moment has arrived when they themselves will be judged. The entrants themselves have their own set of preferences and prejudices. They are, if anything, no less competent than the jury to whom they have graciously offered the bounty of their effort for judgement. In the same way that different films combine to influence the jury as a single unit, the jury also perceives the films as a single unit. Change any one member of the jury, and its performance changes. An activist will always focus more on films of social relevance, an aesthete on form, and so on. My own view of the films I saw were influenced by the films as well as by the other jury members. I'm sure the others responded in the same manner to these stimuli.