[1] Short Waves started as a multi-location event held simultaneously in various cities.

The first edition in 2009 encompassed 28 locations in Poland, as well as Berlin, London and Dublin.

Twelve Polish short films were screened in every city and the viewers voted for their favorite.

[2] Both the 2014 and 2015 editions consisted of two parts: Grand Prix Tour continued the tradition of organizing screenings around the globe, and Short Waves Poznań was a stationery version of the festival, with numerous screenings and events added.

The festival in its new format began to flourish with multiple new screening sections and competitions (such as Poznań Open, Dances with Camera, Urban View, Best of Seven), specialized workshops (for example movie poster making), discussion panels and other industry events.