The Cheltenham International Film Trust is a non-profit charity responsible for the Festival and for film-related events undertaken throughout the year, reaching out to communities diverse in makeup, inclusive of all and often marginalised. 

The Trust is on a mission to translate artistic and creative values into social and economic benefits for the town and to position Cheltenham as a centre of film excellence - to raise the profile of the film festival and to continue to widen and deepen audience appeal to the culture of cinema; to attract film and television production to the town to help boost the local economy; to attract young people to the art of filmmaking and to encourage students of film and media to study in Cheltenham’s institutions of education.