Over the course of half a century 'Molodist' developed from the local, purely professional review of student films of the newly opened Faculty of Cinematography at the Karpenko-Kary University to a major international event that discovers world-class directors.

Initially, Molodist interested a very narrow circle of professional viewers.

Vadim Chubasov and Viktor Ivchenko organized a first screening of works by students of Kyiv theatrical institute. It lasted for 2 days and presented 33 films. It was the beginning of 'Molodist' film festival

in the mid-1970s, Molodist began traveling around the cities of Ukraine (Pavlograd, Kryvyi Rih) and engaged in its program works of students from other Soviet republics. The results of the expansion are evidenced by the names of the winners of the festival in the 1970s: Volodymyr Bortko, Alla Surykova, Vadym Abdrashytov, Mykhailo Illienko.

At the time of perestroika, Molodist was finally entering the international arena. The festival began to screen the films of debutants from countries outside the USSR (even if it was only Poland and the German Democratic Republic) and foreign students of the Karpenko-Kary University.

In the meantime, the Union of Young Cinematographers of Ukraine (UYCU) was formed at the Filmmakers Union of Ukraine. It would organize the festival in times of transition, which were difficult no doubt. In 1991, it was impossible to award cash prizes, and the following year, 1992, the festival did not take place. However, thanks to the efforts of the UYCU, a movie directory was published for each Molodist, which has already become a tradition (this practice began in 1989). In addition, in 1993, following a difficult beginning of the decade, the festival was officially registered as international in the International Federation of Film Producers Associations.

The 1990s for Molodist was a period of a new team that discovered new world-class filmmakers. It was in the early 1990s that Andriy Yakovych Khalpakhchi, the current artistic director of the festival, joined the festival. As for the new directors, it is worth mentioning a few names of filmmakers who made their debut in Kyiv: Tom Tykwer, Francois Ozon, Bruno Dumont, Danny Boyle, Lucas Mudisson, Ildiko Enyedi, Jacques Audiard.

In 2010, the 40th jubilee festival opens in Kyiv. Viewers watched almost three hundred films a week, participated in master classes and met with famous directors and actors. For the first time in the program of the festival films that won during the history of the event were also presented.

The opening ceremony took place at the The Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian National Opera House with world-class guests - Christopher Lambert, Sophie Marceau, Gerard Depardieu, Fanny Ardan, Renata Litvinova, Vladimir Menshov, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Karen Shakhnazarov.