I'm with Laurence.
The festival circuit exists to support festivals, not film makers.
90% of them are a complete waste of time.

Excuse me if this is a dumb question, but if you submit to a festival and the festival decides to show your work, are you expected to appear at the festival personally?

No you don't, Adam. It would be great for us to go to these film fests and meet people, enjoy the screening, checkout the fest, maybe win an award, and visit the town. Of course, many of us don't have it in the budget, but if you can, film fests are great places and events!

Heath

Thanks, Heath. Yes, budgetary concerns were the main reason behind my question.

Quite a few European film festivals don't have entry fees.

Getting into festivals is a pretty competitive business, so it does help if you make it stand out with good marketing material etc. Some festivals will invite film makers to attend, however, this usually just involves the accommodation not the travel costs. Some festivals specialise in certain areas, such as shorts, horror etc, so it's best to check which festivals best suit your film and what you're trying to achieve with it.

By going to the festivals you can make contacts that may pay off later, or just new friends. Quite a bit of networking does take place at the good festivals.