The Asia Pacific Film Festival has gone through a splendid history of more than 60 years. It is a major contribution of the Chinese people to the world's culture and art. In the course of its development of more than 60 years, the Asia Pacific Film Festival has played a role of a bridge to promote the friendship between the people of the Asia Pacific region. The world today is undergoing a great transformation to build a "community of shared future for mankind". The Asia Pacific Film Festival will become the cultural cornerstone of this community and continue to make due contributions to the creation of an Asia Pacific film industry community.

In 1953, Masaichi Nagata, chairman of the Japanese Cinema company, invited Run Run Shaw and others to co-found the Southeast Asian Film Producers Association, and planned to organize a regular film exhibition. The initial members included Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines. Southeast Asia Film Festival takes "Film Festival" as a platform, hoping to raise the level of film art in the whole Asia-Pacific region and promote the development and exchange of art, culture, economy, industry, trade and friendship among cities of different countries through the competition and viewing of excellent films from different countries.

The first "Southeast Asia Film Festival - Golden Awards" was held from May 8 to 20, 1954 in Tokyo, Japan. It was a competition film festival

The second "Golden Lion of Southeast Asia Film Festival" was held in Singapore from May 14 to 21, 1955

The third "Southeast Asia Film Festival - Golden Globe Awards" on June 20, 1956. Held in Hong Kong, China

The fourth "Asia Pacific Film Festival" was held in May 1957 in Japan (the second time). It was renamed "Asia Pacific Film Festival" due to the expansion of its membership to countries outside Southeast Asia.

The fifth "Asia Pacific Film Festival - Golden Dragon Award" was held in Manila, Philippines on April 26, 1958

The 6th Asia Pacific Film Festival - Golden Gong Awards was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from May 3 to 8, 1959

The 7th Asia Pacific Film Festival - Golden Gong Awards was held from April 5 to 9, 1960 in Tokyo, Japan (the third time)

The 8th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Manila, Philippines from March 7 to 11, 1961

The 9th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held from May 12 to 16, 1962 in Seoul (now Seoul), South Korea

The 10th "Asia Pacific Film Festival - Golden Wo Awards" was held in Tokyo, Japan (the fourth time) on April 15-16, 1963

The 11th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held (for the first time) in Taipei, China from June 15 to 19, 1964

The twelfth "Asia Pacific Film Festival - Golden Wo Awards" was held from May 8 to 14, 1965 in Kyoto, Japan (the fifth time)

The 13th "Asia Pacific Film Festival - Golden Awards" was held from May 5 to 9, 1966 in Seoul, South Korea (now Seoul, the second time)

The 14th "Asia Pacific Film Festival - Golden Awards" was held from September 27 to October 3, 1967 in Tokyo, Japan (the sixth time)

It was suspended for a year in 1968

The 15th Asia Pacific Film Festival - Golden Wo Awards was held from June 14 to June 20, 1969 in Manila, Philippines (for the second time)

The 16th Asia Pacific Film Festival - Golden Awards was held from June 14 to June 18, 1970 in Jakarta, Indonesia

The 17th Asia Pacific Film Festival - Golden Wo Awards was held from June 5 to June 9, 1971 in Taipei, China (for the second time)

The 18th "Asia Pacific Film Festival" was held in Seoul (now Seoul, the third time) from May 17 to 21, 1972. It was changed into a spectator film festival, mainly in the nature of fellowship.

The 10th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Singapore from May 14 to 18, 1973

The 20th Asia Pacific Film Festival, held in Taipei, China (for the third time) from June 11 to 15, 1974, set a record for film festivals with a total of 77 awards

The 21st Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Jakarta, Indonesia from June 12 to 15, 1975

The 22nd Asia Pacific Film Festival was held from June 15 to 17, 1976 in Busan, Korea (the fourth time)

The 23rd "Asia Pacific Film Festival" was held in Bangkok, Thailand from November 18 to 25, 1977. Due to political factors, the Taiwan representative did not participate in the event. The General Assembly decided to change the name of each country's capital or film city to participate in the event from the 24th session

The 24th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held from October 2 to 6, 1978 in Sydney, Australia

The 25th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Singapore from July 3 to 6, 1979

The 26th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Bali, Yogyakarta, Indonesia from June 28 to July 2, 1980

It was suspended for a year in 1981

Competition resumed at the 27th Asian Film Festival, which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 11 to 14 September 1982

The 28th Asian Film Festival, held in January 1983 in Taipei, China (the fourth time), was changed back to a competition film festival, and Australia and New Zealand were added, so it was renamed as "Asia Pacific Film Festival". In October of that year, the theme song "Ode to Asia Pacific" was composed by Sun Yi, composed by Liu Jiachang and arranged by Lin Jiaqing. The Chinese lead singer was CAI Shu-shen, music officer of the Art Work Corps of Taiwan Defense Department, and the English lead singer was Li Petii (real name Li Xiaozhen), an alumna of Danjiang Middle School, accompanied by the National Light Choir and the Big band of China.

The 29th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Bangkok, Thailand in December 1984

The 30th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Tokyo, Japan in July 1985

The 31st Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in September 1986 in Seoul, Korea (now the 5th time in Seoul)

The 32nd Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in October 1987 in Taipei, China (the 5th time)

The 33rd Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Phuket, Thailand in 1988

The 34th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1989

The 35th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Manila, Philippines in 1990

The 36th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Taipei, China in 1991

The 37th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Seoul (now Seoul) in 1992

The 38th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in September 1993 in Fukuoka, Japan

The 39th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Sydney, Australia in September 1994

The 40th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Jakarta, Indonesia in July 1995

The 41st Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Auckland, New Zealand in 1996

The 42nd Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Jeju Island, South Korea in October 1997

The 43rd Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Taipei, China in 1998

The 44th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1999

The 45th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2000

The forty-sixth Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2001

The 47th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Seoul (now Seoul) in 2002

The 48th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held from 20 to 23 October 2003 in Shiraz, Iran

The 49th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held on 24 September 2004 in Fukuoka, Japan

The 50th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on October 2, 2005

The 51st Asia Pacific Film Festival was held on 24 November 2006 in Taipei, China (the 8th time)

The Asia Pacific Film Festival was suspended for two years in 2007 and 2008 (the 52nd Asia Pacific Film Festival) due to financial problems

The 53rd was held on 19 December 2009 in Kaohsiung, China (9th)

The 54th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Taipei, China on December 4, 2010 (the 10th)

The Asia Pacific Film Festival was suspended for a year in 2011 due to funding problems

The 55th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Macao, China on December 15, 2012

The 56th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Macao, China on November 29, 2013 (the second time)

The Asia Pacific Film Festival was suspended for three years in 2014 and 2016 due to financial problems

The 57th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on July 30, 2017

The 58th Asia Pacific Film Festival was held in Taipei, China on September 1, 2018

In the same year, "Asia-Pacific Film Cooperation Forum" was held at the China Millennium Monument in Beijing, China on February 8, and "Asia Pacific Film Producers Alliance Cultural Exchange and International Film Trade Activity" was held in Qufu, China on November 12.

The 59th session was held on 8 January 2020 in Macao, China

The Asia Pacific Film Festival will be suspended for one year in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Preparations for the 60th Asia Pacific Film Festival will resume in 2022.