The festival was established in 2002. A statement about the festival reads, "Festival founder Wayne Lee was looking for a way to showcase high-quality films appropriate for the entire family, so he started planning a film festival in 2000. He met a team of talented professionals, and together they started the Salt Lake City Film Festival which debuted in August 2001. Filmmakers competed for the Gloria Award, a golden a. Audiences were amazed at the high-quality films they found at the first-year festival.
In 2002, the festival moved to West Valley City, Utah. With the move the organizers decided to change the name of the festival. They decided Gloria was a great name for the event. Not only is Gloria the name of the founder's mother, but it is a word that invokes people to aspire to higher goals. We have found that so many filmmakers aspire to higher ideals and look forward to showcasing your films many years into the future.
Our 2006 festival was held in downtown Salt Lake City for 10 days. The documentaries and short films about social issues were the most popular films with our audiences this year. We will be returning to West Valley City for our 2007 festival, and the community is excited about providing us with a large amount of support."
The mission statement of the festival reads, "The Gloria Film Festival showcases films that stir the soul, heal the heart, and enrich the world."