Established in 1998, it is run by SF IndieFest, a non-profit organization, and based at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, California.

[5] The impetus was that San Francisco independent filmmaker Rand Alexander was unable to find a venue in the city to show Caged, which had premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival.

[6][7] The first festival took place in January 1999[8][9][10] and comprised 20 films,[6] with a focus on experimental and otherwise unconventional works.

[9] IndieFest is now based at the Roxie Theater in the Mission District; it began at the Victoria, also in the Mission,[8] and has used other Bay Area theaters including the United Artists Galaxy, the Castro Theatre,[14] the Brava,[11][15] the Alamo Drafthouse,[15] the Lumiere, and the Fine Arts Cinema in Berkeley.

Both have sub-categories for length (features and shorts) and genre (narrative fiction, documentary, and animation).