How are short films distributed and exhibited?

In terms of short films, a distributor is a person or an organisation who will represent your film at festivals and markets around the world where one will try to sell it to television which includes terrestial, cable and satellite, airlines and other companies that sell it to television. There are a few prominent short film distributors in the UK which are; Dazzle http://www.dazzlefilms.co.uk/

                                                  Future Shorts:  http://www.futureshorts.com/

                                                   Network Ireland TV: http://www.network-irl-tv.com/

                                                  Shorts International: http://www.shortsinternational.com/

The role of a distributor also includes finding short films to represent their distribution catalogue which are found at film festivals and markets around the world, some of the most well-known and popular festivals are: 

•  The Cannes Festival: http://www.festival-cannes.com/en.html

This is the link to the page on the official Cannes Festival website especially for fans of short films and a place where prospective short film directors can display their piece of work. 

•  The Sundance Festival: http://www.sundance.org/festival/

This next link is on the official Sundance Festival in London, especially for short films, as a competition for the short film directors: http://competition.sundance-london.com/

Sundance is widely considered to be one of the top short film festivals, and is also perhaps even more varied than Cannes, when it comes to handing out awards. 

There are a other major film festivals where short film directors can make their mark, here is a link to the website containing most of them: http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/distribution/links-festivals.

Below are a few examples of some of the Festival Short Film Winners:

This video is called 'Soft' and was directed by Simon Ellis. He won the International Short Filmmaking Award at Sundance and was also nominated for a BAFTA in 2008 with this short film. It is about the gritty story of a son and father who are tormented by a gang of youths, but with neither apparently being brave enough to fight back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLZNs1FwhAU

This is a link to another Short Film that was successful. 'Bean Cake' which was directed by David Greespan (2001), won the Palm d'Or for Best Short Film in 2001. It is in Japanese with English subtitles. This story is about a young boy's indoctrination into both the Japanese Empire and the world of girls. This is filmed in black and white to give it a purposefully old-fashioned feel to it.