FirstGlance Film festivals began in 1996 in the basement of a small theater in Center City Philadelphia. It started as a small theatre company in Philadelphia that wanted to help fellow filmmakers get their projects shown in a public venue for others to enjoy. Its mission was a one time weekend to show projects that might otherwise not be seen by moviegoers in the Philadelphia area. With a rented video projector and a bunch of large screen TVs, they had a successful weekend showing about 20 projects to about 150 people. After the event they received multiple calls and emails from filmmakers and attendees. The FirstGlance Film Festival was born. FirstGlance decided to move forward and make its festival an annual event. With filmmaker interest, their sister festival opened in Burbank California in 2000 to a similar audience in a 35 seat screening room and has also become a growing annual event.