[3] The festival is currently led by interim executive director Michel Pradier, following the departure of Nicolas Girard Deltruc from the position in early 2024.

[4] Founded in 1971 as the Festival international du cinéma en 16mm de Montréal, the festival welcomes Québécois, Canadian, and international filmmakers, and encourages exchanges between industry professionals and the general public.

It was a small underground film festival until the 1990s, when it began to gain prominence as an alternative to the Montreal World Film Festival due to increased public dissatisfaction with the management of the larger event.

[8] Over its history, it has introduced audiences to filmmakers such as François Girard, Atom Egoyan, Denis Villeneuve, Guy Maddin, Léa Pool, Jim Jarmusch, Abbas Kiarostami, Spike Lee, Wim Wenders, Raymond Depardon, Jane Campion, Pedro Almodóvar, Wong Kar-wai, Peter Greenaway, Chantal Akerman and Marguerite Duras.

In 2004 Daniel Langlois, director of FNC since 1999, left the organization to begin the Festival International de Films de Montréal (known in English as New Montreal FilmFest), which was initiated and created with the support of SODEC (Société de développement des entreprises culturelles) and Telefilm Canada after a dispute between these Canadian government sponsors and the Montreal World Film Festival.