The Columbus Film Council was founded in 1950, by the late Dr. Edgar Dale, Professor Emeritus of The Ohio State University and other professionals interested in promoting the use of 16mm motion pictures. Two years later, the Columbus Film Festival was born.
Since its inception, the object of the Film Council has been to encourage and promote
the use of 16mm motion pictures and, subsequently, media in all forms of education and communication, not only in the local community but throughout the world. During these many years of continuous operation, the Festival has honored thousands of film and video producers. The Festival has grown in scope, becoming international in 1972, in the late 80's adding video, and in 1997 adding the CD ROM format. In 2004 the Festival added DVDs to its list of accepted formats.

Although the organizational structure of the Film Council, sponsor of the Columbus International Film & Video Festival, The Chris Awards, has remained the same, there has been a continuing effort to keep the Festival current with trends in production and distribution. Producers who win our awards eagerly promote them through their own marketing media and through national audio-visual and trade publications.

To adapt to changing needs of producers and distributors, we created a website in 1996 (which lists all the current winners and screenings) and expanded our screenings of winners. While the competition itself had always been our primary emphasis, we now also promote and screen even more films.

Many people have labored to build the strong foundation upon which today's Festival stands. We extend our gratitude to all those who have contributed time and expertise through the years and salute this year's participants - both our jurors and our entrants.