Short Film

Short Film Festivals are to get producers of short films to be noticed and to allow their work to be viewed and experienced by larger audiences.
Here is a list of short film festivals:

http://www.shortfilms.org.uk/ The London Short Film Festival, the city’s most expansive and radically explosive film festival, returned to the city for its 7th edition over ten days and ten major London venues in January 2010.

http://www.bangshortfilmfestival.com/ Bang! is a non-competitive festival of short films hosted and supported by the Broadway Cinema, Nottingham, UK, and mixes local, national and international films to create an original and exciting programme. Without filmmakers or an audience we would not exist, so we do it for them. Bang! looks at all short films, and has no genre restrictions whatsoever.

http://www.hullfilm.co.uk/ Hull Film is dedicated to the exhibition and creation of short film as a crucial art form in its own right. Since 2001, Hull Film has been responsible for the Hull International Short Film Festival, which acts as a showcase of short film with Hull Screen being the main venue. As well as the annual festival, Hull Film has been active in programming a multitude of screenings, lectures, master classes and educational events in the city. Hull Film is also committed to promoting new work, and developing critical discussion as well as developing the Hull Film Study Collection.

http://www.encounters-festival.org.uk/ Encounters International Film Festival is the umbrella title for two of the UK's leading film festivals Brief Encounters and Animated Encounters, with a host of cross-over attractions, at venues in and around the Harbourside area of Bristol, UK.
In 2001, the short film festival was joined by Animated Encounters - celebrating and showcasing the productions, talent, creativity, technology and skills that make animation such a popular and successful film form worldwide. It too, has enjoyed a rapid rise to global prominence, as is demonstrated by its status as the UK's representative for the prestigious European Cartoon D'Or.

Audiences for short films-
Creators of short films (40 minutes or less) have found an audience through such online sites as iTunes, Revver.com and San Francisco's Frameline Films and Caachi.com, which specializes in distributing independent films. The audience for short films tends to be a niche audience who generally watch specialist films in 'art house' cinemas or people who are interested in the film industry and who are trying to start out in the industry themselves.

Producers make short films as a starting point to get into the industry and to have their filmmaking skills noticed.