The Wales One World Film Festival was founded in 2001 by David Gillam, and in that year screened at three venues: Aberystwyth Arts Centre, the Taliesin in Swansea, and Chapter in Cardiff.
In that year, WOW collaborated with Aberystwyth's Abertoir (subtitled "The International Horror Festival of Wales") for the UK premiere of the Argentinian supernatural thriller The Second Death (La Segunda Muerte).
Other films screened in that year included The Lunchbox ; Metro Manila from the Philippines; Delight (one of a trilogy by Welsh director Gareth Jones[2][3]); Kenyan drama Nairobi Half Life; and the Swiss documentary Winter Nomads.
[5] In 2017, the festival opened on 17 March in Cardiff then toured to Aberystwyth, Swansea, Cardigan and Mold, screening films from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mali, Palestine, Thailand and Nepal.
[18] Four short films "on the theme of women building sustainability and resilience in response to climate change issues" will be selected from entries by filmmakers aged 18–35, two each from Bangladesh and Wales.