A 1st festival opened within June 11, 1954 & screened in quatern halls at Sydney University over four years. Attendance was at to the full capacity using 1,200 tickets sold at one guinea each.

A festival remained at Sydney University until 1968, at which instance it moved to the Wintergarden inside Rose Bay. Around 1974 it moved to its todays todays independent venue, a historic State Theatre in the centre of Sydney.

Members of a audience mostly choose the subscription fully fortnight however the total of only session tickets has been increasing since introduced inside 2001.

Nonindulgent guidelines around relation to last screenings of films means that audiences look at films that haven't experienced general release. An audience award is nominated at a prevent of a festival & a Dendy short film awards occurs in a number 1 day of the festival, sustaining the winners proclaimed at the curtain raising of the SFF.