Over the long weekend of the 2nd to the 5th of April, 2009, more than 80 students and film professionals from Europe and the United States came together at the Haut-Lac International Centre in Les Sciernes, Switzerland, to participate in the first European Student Film Festival. Students from France, Switzerland, Czech Republic and as far afield as Izmir in Turkey and Bucharest in Romania had a full day of workshops led by professionals from the film industry, followed by a day spent on the 12 Hour Film Challenge - a gruelling contest that put their newly acquired skills into practice.

The , focusing on visual storytelling, editing, script and production design, were run by professional filmmakers from Vevey, Paris and Amsterdam, who were flown in for the occasion. Festival sponsors Kobold lighting, Sony Creative Software and Visuals enabled students to use professional tools: Kobold HMI lights, Sony Vegas Pro8 editing software and Sony HVR-Z1E HDV cameras during their workshops, as well as to produce some impressive films during the 12 Hour Challenge.

On the Screening Evening, the twenty films that were submitted by both attendants and non-attendants to compete for the Festival Awards were shown.

These had already been judged by a prestigious panel of 5 Judges across the globe, before being further discussed by a panel of 3 in-house Jurors, who determined the recipients of the Jury Award and the ESFF Award.

The attending students were invited to vote for the recipient of the Audience Award.

The final day of the Festival saw the results of the ESFF Film Competition revealed.

The 2009 ESFF Jury Award was awarded to by Walker Thulson of the Denver School of Arts. The prize consisted of a certificate and a boxed version of Sony Vegas Pro8 NLE software. Second place was awarded to 'Affection' by Saulo Nicolai of the Monteiro de Carvalho School in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The winner of the Audience Award was 'Dibujar' by Katie Aldworth, also of the Denver School of Arts, who too won a boxed version Sony Vegas Pro8 NLE software.

The Special ESFF Award went to 'Closer' by Julia Moser of the Haut-Lac International Bilingual School, who took away a 400W Kobold HMI light for her school, to be used by the next generation of film students.