He hired Jody Kielbasa as Executive Director and the first "mini-festival", featuring eight independent films, six actors and a gala fundraiser was held in January 1999.
[8] Amid financial problems, Welch and others resigned from the executive committee in 2009, citing a different vision than that of the current festival.
[3] The festival has since grown, showing 252 films and bringing more than 100 filmmakers and actors to the Sarasota area over its ten-day run of April 4–13, 2014.
[9] The Sarasota Herald-Tribune said in 2014 that the festival was now a "showcase for serious independent films and the cinephiles who love them.
"[10] It has integrated smaller programs, including UN Women's "Through Women's Eyes" Film Festival [11] and the student-focused "YouthFEST" [12] The 2015 Sarasota Film Festival Education Program features a documentary summer camp for students.