How are the best director award winners chosen?

Question

I do not understand how the best director awards are determined each year. It seems impossible to assess the method of a movie director unless you are part of the crew.So, how do the nominators/judges assess the directors' performance each year?

Answer 1

In many ways, all the awards given at the Academy Awards are "political," meaning that nominees campaign to a certain extent, just like politicians do. Directors and other nominees at awards shows are nominated by the current members of the Academy, who are able list usually up to five people (in order of preference). There are multiple branches of the Academy, so people in the directors branch are the people who can nominate for this category. The list of nominees is then narrowed down through a somewhat mathematical process. To determine the winner of the award, the entire Academy votes.

Most people would describe the director's job as putting the overall film together--the director should have a hand in all elements of production, even if they aren't the ones making every decision. In a recent year, Ang Lee won Best Director for "Life of Pi," which many people said was a movie that shouldn't have been able to be made, and that's why they voted for him. The director's job is to put all the pieces of a film together to create an overall desired effect, and this is what the voting body is considering when they choose the winner.