[2] The first festival took place in August 2002, under the direction of Casey Marshall Siemer,[3] with Oscar-winning visual effects specialist John Cox as patron.
[8] Past director Mitch Ziems helped open the ceremony that took place at the Metro Arts Theatre in Brisbane, Queensland on 16 November 2013.
[9] In 2014, under director Kylie Pascoe,[10] the festival broadened its focus in terms of genre, and also started showing more international films.
[11] The festival became known for its support of gender equality in the Australian screen industry in 2016, and in 2018 was the venue for the launch of Women in Film and Television (WIFT) Australia.
[12] In this year, with the support of Screen Queensland, GCFF became one of seven festivals to become a feature film qualifier for AACTA Awards.
Other partners include Bond University, Warner Bros. Movie World, Village Roadshow Studios, and a number of other corporate sponsors.
[23][24] Past recipients of the Chauvel Award include producer Anthony Buckley, directors Paul Cox and Rolf de Heer, actors Bryan Brown and Geoffrey Rush, cinematographer John Seale, documentary makers Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson, and film critic David Stratton.