To Festival Virgins…

Go to Withoutabox and check out the Oscar booster list, those are the festival that if you 'Win' you qualify to enter the academy awards - the Foyle Film Festival is one of them. Enter as many of those festivals as possible. Apart from the Oscars they're highly regarded elsewhere and work to your benefit when looking for funding etc. Funding bodies are impressed by these festival lists.

Here's a good list to research:
AbilityFest: India International Disability Film Festival*
Academia De Las Artes Y Ciencias Cinematograficas De España*
Académie Des Arts Et Techniques Du Cinéma (César)*
Academy Of Canadian Cinema & Television (Genie)*
Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences (Students)*
AFI Fest (Los Angeles)*
Angers Premiers Plans*
Ann Arbor Film Festival*
Annecy Festival International Du Cinema D'Animation*
Antalya Golden Orange (Altın Portakal) Film Festival*
Aspen Shortsfest*
Astana International Action Film Festival*
Athens International Film & Video Festival (Ohio)*
Atlanta Film Festival*
Austin Film Festival*
BAFTA - nominee*
BAFTA Cymru - nominee*
BAFTA Scotland - nominee*
Berlin International Film Festival*
Bermuda International Film Festival*
BFI London Film Festival*
BFM International Film Festival*
Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Films*
Birds Eye View Film Festival (London)*
Bite The Mango Film Festival*
Bogota Film Festival*
Brest European Short Film Festival*
Brooklyn International Film Festival*
British Independent Film Awards*
Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival*
Cairo International Film Festival*
Cannes International Film Festival*
Cartagena International Film Festival*
CFC (Canada Film Festival) Worldwide Short Film Festival*
Chicago International Film Festival*
Chicago International Children’s Film Festival*
Cinanima International Animation Film Festival*
Cinema Jove International Film Festival (Valencia)*
Cinequest Film Festival*
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival*
Cleveland International Film Festival*
Corona Cork Film Festival*
Courmayeur Noir In Festival*
CPH Dox (Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival)*
Creiteil International Women’s Film Festival*
David Di Donatello Award [Accademia Del Cinema Italiano]*
Deaffest, Wolverhampton Deaf Film and TV Festival*
Deafroc, Deaf Rochester Film Festival*
Docuweeks (International Documentary Association, New York and Los Angeles)*
DocsBarcelona (International Documentary Film Festival)*
DOK Leipzig – The International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film*
Durban International Film Festival*
Eat Our Shorts Student Film Festival*
Edinburgh International Film Festival*
Encounters International Short Film Festival*
Era New Horizons International Film Festival (Wroclaw)*
European Film Awards*
FESPACO - Pan-African Film And Television Festival*
Festival de Cine de Huesca*
Flanders International Film Festival (Ghent)*
Flickerfest International Australian Short Film Festival*
Florida Film Festival*
Foyle Film Festival*
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (North Carolina)*
Gijon International Film Festival for Young People*
Gothenburg International Film Festival*
Hamburg International Short Film Festival*
The Hamptons International Film Festival*
Haugesund, The Norwegian International Film Festival*
Hiroshima International Animation Festival*
Hot Docs - Canadian International Documentary Festival*
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival*
Human Rights Arts and Film Festival (Melbourne)*
International Documentary and Short Festival of Amsterdam*
International Film Festival Of India (Goa)*
International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK)*
Istanbul International Film Festival*
Jeonju International Film Festival*
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival*
Kiev International Film Festival*
Kolkata Film Festival*
Krakow Film Festival*
Locarno International Film Festival*
London Lesbian And Gay Film Festival*
London International Documentary Festival*
London’s International Disability Film Festival*
Los Angeles Film Festival*
Los Angeles International Short Film Festival*
Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival*
Mar Del Plata International Film Festival*
Mecal International Short Film Festival (Barcelona)*
Melbourne International Film Festival*
Message To Man Film International Documentary, Short and Animated Films Festival (St Petersberg)*
Milan African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival*
Mix Brasil Cinema and Video Festival Of Sexual Diversity*
Montreal World Film Festival*
Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinema*
Morelia International Film Festival*
Moscow International Film Festival*
Mostra of Valencia Cinema of Mediterrani*
Mumbai Film Festival*
Namur Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur*
Nashville Film Festival*
Oberhausen International Short Film Festival*
Ottawa International Animation Festival*
'Out In Africa' South African Gay And Lesbian Film Festival*
Palm Springs International Shorts Festival*
Pan African Film And Arts Festival (Los Angeles)*
Perspektiva Breaking Down Barriers Disability Film Festival (Moscow)*
Picture This…Film Festival*
Pusan International Film Festival*
Raindance Film Festival*
Rhode Island International Film Festival*
Rio De Janeiro International Short Film Festival*
Rotterdam International Film Festival*
Rushes Soho Shorts Festival*
San Francisco International Film Festival*
San Sebastian International Film Festival*
Santa Barbara International Film Festival*
São Paulo International Film Festival*
Sarajevo Film Festival*
Seattle International Film Festival*
Shanghai International Film Festival*
Sheffield Doc/Fest*
Short Expression: International Film Festival (Guánajuato)*
Shortshorts Film Festival (California)*
Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival (Washington DC)*
Siggraph (Computer Animation Festival)*
Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia*
Slamdance Film Festival*
Sofia International Film Festival*
South By Southwest Film*
St Louis International Film Festival*
Stockholm International Film Festival*
Stuttgart International Animation Festival*
Sundance Film Festival*
Superfest International Disability Film Festival*
Sydney Film Festival*
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival*
Tampere International Short Film Festival*
Thessaloniki International Film Festival*
Tokyo International Film Festival*
Torino Film Festival*
Toronto International Film Festival*
Tribeca Film Festival*
Tróia International Film Festival*
True/False Film Festival (Columbia, Missouri)*
Uppsala International Short Film Festival*
Urbanworld Film Festival, New York*
USA Film Festival. National Short Film & Video Competition*
Venice International Film Festival*
Viennale, Vienna International Film Festival*
Virgin Media Shorts - People’s Choice or Grand Prize*
Warsaw Film Festival*
Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films

Alright, hopefully that helps...

One more thing, I would also recommend putting a nice presentation/press kit and EPK together (EPK: Electronic press kit - i.e. a file you can email that contains cast and crew bios (short) hi res pics for publication, a trailer, anecdotes, synopsis - long and short - they'll always ask for that stuff so best to have it on hand.)

Maybe even get a couple of cool people to review it, give you a quote for the poster... who do you know that would look good in quotes on a poster, someone from RTE, RTE Radio, Hot Press.... Something like that, it’s all about getting people to see your film.

And there’s no harm in a having a few laurel wreaths on you poster and DVD box, they do look kind of cool!