Jakarta World Cinema was first held in 2022, and in its first two editions, the event was known as Jakarta World Cinema Week. Beginning with its third edition in 2024 and onward, the name was shortened to Jakarta World Cinema, omitting the word “week”. Despite bearing the name “Jakarta”, JWC was not initiated by the city or national government but by the private streaming service KlikFilm in collaboration with the Abhiseka Foundation for Education, Training, and Research.

One afternoon in Jakarta, in July 2022, JWC was originally conceived by the KlikFilm team as a community platform for film enthusiasts in Jakarta to appreciate international arthouse films whose distribution rights were held by KlikFilm, allowing audiences to experience them on the big screen. It was initially planned as a once-a-month screening event at KlikFilm’s screening room on Jalan Duren Tiga Raya, Jakarta. However, due to overwhelming public interest—and with less than three months of preparation—the inaugural edition of JWC expanded into a full festival held across four cities (Jakarta, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi), screening 71 films from 39 countries and hosting Dutch filmmaker Nico van den Brink, director of Moloch.

In its second year, JWC showcased even more films—90 titles from 54 countries—and welcomed a greater number of international guests, including Noora Niasari (director of Shayda), Keiran Watson-Bonnice (executive producer of Shayda), Mohammed Al Jizawi (actor in Inshallah a Boy), and Julie Lecoustre and Emmanuel Marre (directors of Zero Fucks Given).

For its third edition, JWC screened 120 films from 61 countries and hosted guests such as Selman Nacar (director of Hesitation Wound), Jianjie Lin (director of Brief History of a Family), and Nelicia Low (director of Pierce).

By 2025, the number of films increased significantly to 195 titles from 66 countries. The fourth edition welcomed international guests including Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (director of Human Resource), Jing Yi (director of The Botanist), Kei Ishikawa (director of A Pale View of Hills), and Mehrnoush Alia (director of 1001 Frames).

The mission of this film festival is to cultivate appreciation for and promote world cinema in all its forms—as an art, as entertainment, and as an industrial product—guided by the spirit of freedom and dialogue. JWC features a special program, KlikFilm Remaster, dedicated to restoring classic films as a contribution toward better appreciation of cinematic works and film history.

During its first two editions, JWC granted a single award—the Audience Award—presented to the film with the highest rating as voted by festivalgoers. Beginning with its third edition in 2024, through the First Feature Competition, JWC also introduced the Best Director and Best Film awards. In its fourth edition in 2025, JWC further expanded its recognition by presenting awards for the KlikFilm Short Movie Competition to three winning films, along with one audience favorite.