International Festival of Cinematographic Debuts "Spirit of fire" was planned in winter, 2002. At the same time, the author of the plan - film director Sergei Solovyov discussed the idea of the festival with the Governor of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra Alexander V. Filipenko. Soon the Government of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug adopted a regulation on holding of International Festival of Cinematographic Debuts "Spirit of fire" from January 26 to February 2, 2003, and the preparation was held during the year. Initiative Group visited a number of the world's biggest international festivals. During the preparation, the ideology of the upcoming festival was developed. It included the idea of not only annual public review of almost all the debut works in Russia, but also the existence of these works in the context of the global debut cinema, as well as the idea of inheritance of the new Russian cinema the most outstanding tradition left to us by the great world cinema of the second half of the 20th century and a magnificent cinema of the disappeared Soviet Union. At the same time, the governing bodies of the festival were established, in particular its permanent Presidential Board.