The Houston International Film Festival is now Worldfest-Houston – Where Films Take Off https://worldfest.org/. Attending The 51st Annual WorldFest-Houston April 20-29, 2018 WorldFest was founded over 51 years ago as an International Film Society in August, 1961. WorldFest became the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York. WorldFest is the oldest Independent Film & Video Festival in the World. It evolved into a competitive International Film Festival in April, 1968. It was founded by award-winning producer/director Hunter Todd to present a quality film festival for the Independent filmmakers.