In its first edition, held in 1983, the Festival drew together a pioneering group of Brazilian artists and video makers, becoming the first major effort in fostering the production and screening of works in this language. In the years that followed, the Festival kept breaking new ground by incorporating electronic art creations and configuring itself as a space for experimentation and risk-taking.

Beginning in 1992, the first year of its partnership with Sesc São Paulo, the Festival expanded and affirmed itself as a landmark international event, setting its geopolitical focus on countries of the Global South.

In 2011, the 17th edition of the Festival underscored new and important changes, as its open call embraced artworks in all visual arts languages, with no restrictions regarding medium or technique.

The Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil also played a key role in fostering dialogue between Southern art productions and the works of established artists from different parts of the world, having featured exhibitions by Olafur Eliasson (Denmark); Bill Viola, Gary Hill and Coco Fusco (USA); Peter Greenaway (United Kingdom); Marcel Odenbach (Germany); Akram Zaatari (Lebanon); Fabrizio Plessi (Italy); Robert Cahen (France); Eder Santos, Chelpa Ferro, Waly Salomão (Brazil), among others.

From its 19th edition in 2015, onwards, Videobrasil innovated again by launching two separate open calls. In a previously unseen initiative, the Festival sponsored the development of four art projects, with oversight from the curators, to be shown during the event.