Founded in 2011 by filmmaker, actor and poet Kalpna Singh-Chitnis,[6][7] SRFF is Irvine's first international film festival, dedicated to global independent filmmakers. Since its beginning in 2011, the festival has showcased over 160 films from 30 countries, premiering some of the highly acclaimed films and documentaries such as I Am Kalam by Nila Madhab Panda, The Highest Pass by Jon Fitzgerald,[8] Oscar nominated short Raju (film) by Max Zahle, No God No Master by Terry Green, Unbowed by Chung ji-young, English Vinglish by Gauri Shinde, How I Became An Elephant by Tim Gorski and studio films from Walt Disney, UTV and Eros International.[9] SRFF is established with the vision to bring East and West[10] together to share their best work of films and Cinema for Causes on one platform to raise awareness about the issues that matters.