History

Better Cities Film Festival was originally founded by Joshua Paget in 2013 as the New Urbanism Film Festival.  Discussions and decisions about urban planning and design are too often limited to the university classroom or city council chambers. The festival was launched with a vision to move that conversation onto the silver screen and into the streets, engaging the broader community in the vital work of placemaking and neighborhood revitalization.

During its five-year run in Los Angeles, the festival received over 700 submissions from all over the world and screened over 200 films, pairing them with experts who helped lead post-film discussions about the locally built environment.

In its second year, the festival took an unexpected turn:  community groups and organizations wanted to use the power of film to help revitalize and improve their hometowns. By popular demand, it was time to “take the show on the road.”  We instituted a way for other cities and towns to host local screenings.  In some cases, they wanted to screen the “best of the fest” – a reel of the top award-winning festival films.  In other cases, by special request, we dug through our vast archives and curated custom playlists of films especially relevant to the current issues facing a particular host city.

By 2018, the festival had enjoyed a five-year run in Los Angeles and sold-out screenings in over 30 cities around the world, ranging from international hotspots like Shen Zhen and Milan to smaller domestic cities and towns like Laredo and Oxnard. 

In 2019, First+Main Films acquired the festival with the goal of expanding it to more cities and wider audiences.  Founder Josh Paget remains as the festival director and driving creative force.  The festival was rechristened the Better Cities Film Festival and the flagship four-day festival was moved from Los Angeles to Detroit, Michigan.

In 2023, First+Main Films partnered with Southern Urbanism, a non-profit dedicated to building better cities in the South. The home of Better Cities Film Festival South is Durham, North Carolina.

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