Distributing a short film

We were keen to find out how short films made it out of the editing suite and onto the big screen so we looked on various websites, starting with ehow's guide on to where to send them:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2077624_distribute-short-film.html

We then looked on BBC's film network webpage to find out a little more detail about the distribution process.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/rights

Aside from the obvious choice of entering short films into film festivals; some of which we found out about on these sites;
http://www.kinofilm.org.uk/, http://www.britfilms.com/festivals/browse/?s=short&c, http://www.supershorts.org.uk/, http://www.shortfilms.org.uk/
we also found a site called Lux that gives film makers a comprehensive directory of independant 'short friendly' cinemas throughout the UK, as an alternative to the festival scene: http://distribution.lux.org.uk/cinema/cinemas.htm
Their home page also gives extra information on other places to distribute short films to such as galleries, film agencies, television companies and the internet.

The internet is easily the most straight forward and beneficial way of getting a short film seen and heard, even if it isn't financially rewarding. Sites such as http://www.filminute.com/2007/vote/index.php, http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A25578372, www.youtube.com, www.video.google.com and www.myspace.com (which auditions users for the sites own short films) have a good selection of short films of all genres and plenty of links to the film companies' websites.