Balloting Rules
The following rules apply to the balloting; they have been essentially unchanged for a number of years, although the early years were different. All voters rate films on a 9-point scale, from "Absolute Best" to "Least Favorite". The average rating of a film is then converted to a scale of +4.00 (good) to -4.00 (bad). Films only qualify for Most Liked if they are rated by over 15 viewers, and are neither documentaries nor archivals. There is no minimum vote count for Top Documentaries and Top Archivals. We define archivals as film which have shown at any previous SIFF, or which were in theatrical release 5 or more years before the festival. Passholders may choose only one film in each special category (Best Director etc). The film with the most votes wins. All results come with the caveat that they are only as accurate as the early-AM data entry skills of passholders who have seen 100 films in the past 25 days.