We like reading up on animation festivals because more often than not you can find several of the winning short films online already. Ottawa International Animation Festival is North America's premier showcase for animation, and having wrapped up at the end of October has proven itself no exception—some of its excellent winners are already up on the web.

More and more filmmakers are approaching us looking to get their film in front of a large online audience. And these recommendations are becoming a bigger portion of the films we choose to feature.

Festival trailers are a cool little sub-genre of design and animation. Short and sweet, they are nice displays of creativity.

Titular character of Marcel the Shell While festivals and online outlets still exist as two different worlds, it seems that every online mainstay wants to become a festival (see YouTube Biennial, Vimeo Festival), and every festival wants to have a presence online. We've covered Cannes and Sundance's forays, and now at the end of the yearly festival season the American Film Institute's AFI Fest has a turn with a selection of 11 shorts available through its website.