The appearance of the Molodist film festival was planned to happen in 1962, when the Kyiv Institute of Theatrical Arts named after Karpenko-Kariy first introduced the department of Cinema Art. The natural attraction of young masters to the audience, the necessity for emotional impulse from the audience, and the necessity in conversation through the screen - all that made this great beginning successful and eternal.

A festival that built on this sort of conception does not have any chance to become old. That is probably the reason of its name: "Molodist" means "youth" in Ukrainian. Only one short notice in the newspaper "Na Ekranah Ukrainy" from October 31, 1970, which announced the first festival, said: "...the first Republican Festival of Student Films "Molodist" took place in Kyiv during two days. 33 films were shown. The Jury with Mykola Maschenko as the Head determined the best student films, presented diplomas and prizes".
Molodist was founded in 1970 and organized only because of the energetic nature of the director Mykola Maschenko and with the help of the initiative group from the Cinematographers Union of Ukraine.

Since then Ukrainian young film Festival is oriented towards the young cinematographers. 30 years of International Film Festival «Molodist» was celebrated in 2000. Today competition program include over 60 films and non-competition program represents over 250 films. Every year cinematographers from more than 40 different countries take part in festival.

The festival was open for the representatives from different universities and countries since the first years of it’s existence. Cinematographers from Bulgaria, Georgia, and Armenia were the constant guests in 70s. Full-shot fiction appeared in competition program in 1975.

«Molodist» was the first step for all the leading Ukrainian cinematographers. The prizewinners in 70s 80s were such Ukrainian filmmakers as Karen Gevorkyan, Vadim Abdrashitov, Aleksandr Pankratov, Vladimir Bortko, Konstantin Lopushansky, Sergei Snezhkin, Yevgeni Tsymbal, Yuri Mamin.
During the perestroika times in competition program of the Film Festival «Molodist» appeared films of the Baltic, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and German filmmakers. We couldn’t but mention that the festival always focused its attention on the new cinematographic trends. In 1989 for the first time in USSR Film Festival «Molodist» presented production of Moscow and Leningrad “parallel cinematograph”. It were the experimental cinema, which were filmed on the narrow-gauged film. Those were the films of Maksim Pezhemskiy, brothers Aleinikov, Eugeny Ufit. As a result of this film exhibition there were a fierce dispute about the development trends of a new cinematograph.

After the USSR collapse and with the formation of the new independent country the new development opportunities appeared. In 1993 FIAPF officially registered ««Molodist»» as an specialized International Festival, which activity completely corresponds with international standards. So, the Festival for 13 years already works according to FIAPF «Regulations for International Film Festivals». Since that time Film Festival «Molodist» is called one of the most important events in Western Europe.
The settler for the festival was a partnership with «1+1» television channel that took place in 1995 and helped «Molodist» to pass through the financial and organisational problems.

Festival’s competition program consists of sections of student films, first short film (fiction film, animation, documentary) and first full-length fiction film. That helps to see the evolution of the competitors. Election Committee also follows the life of the competitors after their graduation.

In different years «Molodist» screened the debuts of such successive European directors as – Gaspar Noe, Tom Tykwer, Danny Boyle, Laurent Bouhnik, Oleksiy Balabanov, Shona Auerbach, Denis Evstigneev, Jacques Audiard, Dmitriy Meskhiev, Valeriy Todorovskiy, Francois Ozon, Stephen Daldry, Sergiy Maslobojschikov, Bilge Geyran, Bruno Dumont and many others.

«Molodist» was the first step for lots of future prominent filmmakers, who became the prizewinners of leading film festival. Bruno Dumont, who presented in Kyiv in 1997 his first full-length fiction film “Jesus Life”, would get the Golden Palm for the film “Humanity” two years later. Alain Berliner, who got the prize for the best full-length film on the 27th International Film Festival «Molodist» for his “My Life In Rose”, would became the Oscar winner.

The festival will also present a non-competition program that may include Ukrainian panorama, Retrospectives of film schools and prominent filmmakers, Festival of Festivals, French Cinema Today, New Russian Cinema Today.

Non-competition section of the festival traditionally presents a range of programs aimed to acquaint an audience with best pieces of a cinema art all over the world as well as works of world’s largest cinema-schools.

During the last decade «Molodist» presented retrospectives of such masters as — Anderson Lindsay, Alfred Hitchcock, Margarethe von Trotta, Werner Herzog, Derek Jarman, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch, brothers Kaurismaki, Peter Chardynin, Ivan Pyrjev, Vira Kholodna, Edward Dmytryk, Leonid Osyka, Ivan Mykolajchuk, Yuri Illenko, Krzysztof Zanussi, Robert Bresson, Ettore Scola, Sophie Loren, Igor Savchenko, Luchino Visconti and many others.

In 1997 lifetime-achievement award was established. This prize was awarded to famous Hollywood film director of Ukrainian origin Edward Dmytryk, great Italian comedian Monicelli Mario, prominent Polish filmmaker Jerzy Hoffman, master of the Italian film Ettore Scola, Russian cinematograph representatives Irina Skobtseva and Fedor Bondarchuk.

In 2001 people's artist of Ukraine Bogdan Stupka has served as presidents of the International Film Festival «Molodist»

Today’s president of the International Film Festival «Molodist» is the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

After 36 years Kyiv International Film Festival «Molodist» is still oriented towards the young cinematographers, and aimed to help young talents to occupy a fitting place in contemporary cinema process.