The QCinema International Film Festival was created in 2013 by the Quezon CityFilm Development Foundation, a Quezon City governmental commission that supported the city's filmmakers. The Circle Competition was created for entrants to compete for their films to be shown at the film festival. Winners of the Circle Competition would be given a seed grant to help them produce more films. Trinoma Mall Cinemas was selected as the venue for the first edition of the film festival. The first festival was held from October 3 to October 5 of that year, with 3,000 people attending. Only three filmmakers reached the Circle Competition, each winning a seed grant of ₱800,000. Their films were selected for promoting nationalism, gender sensitivity, freedom, and excellence. Nine of the New Breed films from the 2013 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival were also shown. Additional events included film workshops and talk-back sessions with the winning filmmakers. In 2014 the festival was held from November 5to 11, and reached an attendance of 5,000. Thirty-eight films were shown, out of which eight received grants. Film categories were introduced, with "Screen International" highlighting foreign films, and "Children’s Classics" being films produced for children. The festival also featured a filmmakers’ forum. In 2015 the festival was held from October 22 to 31, with 10,000 people attending. Sixty movies were shown throughout the festival, with eight receiving grants. The "Screen International" and "Children’s Classics" categories returned, with the latter being renamed to "Special Children’s Screening." New film categories included the "International Documentaries", "RainbowQC", "Music Genius", "Special Halloween Screening", "Throwback Ticket", "Indie Nacional", "Reloaded", "QCX Anthology", and "Asian Cinerama". Additional events included complimentary film forums and workshops. In 2016 the festival was held from October 13 to 22, and reached an attendance of 15,000. QCinema screened sixty films, out of which seven full-length films and several short films were given grants. The "Screen International" and "RainbowQC" categories returned, in addition to "Throwback Ticket", which was renamed to "Back Throwback". New film categories included "Cinema Rehiyon" and "Pinoy Spotlight". Additional events included free film seminars, film forums, and workshops. In 2017 the festival was held from October 19 to 28. The festival opened with "Loving Vincent" and closed with the restored version of "Batch ’81”. Similarly to the previous year's festival, seven films and several short films were given grants, with the "Asian Next Wave", "Screen International", and "RainbowQC" film categories returning. The "Back Throwback" category also returned, again renamed to "Digitally Remastered." New film categories included "Trilogy", "Before Midnight", and "Special Screenings". Additional events included a film conference and an awards ceremony.
