It's always fun to see your work on the big screen but from a more practical note you can use it as a chance to show your work to potential investors.
I want to float out the idea of organising some sort of event in this regard by putting together a few of us new filmmakers who might have a short or two to show to advertise bigger pieces of work in the pipeline. These aren't necessarily finshed works, all those involved could agree on a deadline if some of us have works in production, but with a few of us working together it seems we could create a much bigger event than we could on our own.
This is literally the first I've though of doing this so very much just an idea at the moment but be helpful to know if there are people who would be interested in helping to organise this.