The UK JFF, which was held for the first time in London in 1997, has been very successful for 11 consecutive years and is one of the most prestigious festivals of its kind in the world. Since its conception, the UK JFF, in addition to film screenings organizes a series of supplementary activities such as various round tables, meetings with authors and actors who deal with films, film creation and artistic achievement in general in a way that is accessible to the general public. Since 2003 the UK JFF organizes screenings under its license throughout the United Kingdom such as in Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

The first JFF was in Zagreb was organized in 2007.
The longstanding experience of the UK JFF has certainly contributed to the success of the JFF in Croatia whose first edition received the highest praise from the public and the experts for its quality. By putting together the most prominent film experts from Croatia and abroad and with a selection of the some of the best films with Jewish subject matter, the JFF in Croatia has proven to be a unique film experience. Eleven short, feature and feature documentary films from Croatia and abroad were screened. Most of these films have won numerous awards but are often not available to wider audiences in regular distribution despite the fact that there is a great interest for them.
Following the success of the first festival in Zagreb, the Academy Award winner Branko Lustig became its president.
This year the festival organizer has decided to kick off the JFF in Belgrade and Sarajevo as well.