The first edition of this festival took place in 1989 at the initiative of its current delegate general Claude-Éric Poiroux [fr], founder of the art house cinema Les 400 coups in Angers, and of a group of moviegoers.[2][3]

Since 2011, the festival collaborates with the Beijing First Film Festival.[4]

In 2013, it attracted nearly 70,000 festival-goers.[5][6] In 2016, admissions were estimated to be more than 76,000 and more than 150,000 euros in prizes awarded to films selected by juries or spectators.