Short Film Festivals.

All you have to do is type 'Short Film Festival' into Google, and instantly you're hounded with thousands of results offering opportunities to either attend, participate or even submit your own work to these events. These festivals are one of the only places that Short Films will be publicly presented on a cinematic screen to a large audience, and have proved especially helpful to aspiring directors looking to elevate their career, or even vice versa, to a studio looking to scout fresh, and potentially ground breaking talent.

A great example of this is 'Raindance', the Uk's largest Independent film festival established in 1992 by Elliot Grove. Prestigious awards at the festival include Best International Feature and Short, Best UK Feature and Short, Best Documentary Feature, and the Tiscali Short Film Award. It was the first festival to screen 'The Blair Witch Project' and has attracted the likes of Alan Rickman as well as had judges such as Judy Dench as has Ewan McGregor as a patron.
120 films, screened on a total of 22 different formats, seminars and a whole lot of partying and networking, easily establishes Raindance week as a 'must attend' for any diary.

Other noted film festivals include: Sundance, London Short Film and L.A. Short Festival.