Large buzz surrounds ‘Renee’ to debut, Florida Film Festival

The Florida Film Festival will be debuting “Renee”, a student-made Valencia film at 7 p.m. Friday, April 13.

Teen-aged girl Renee Yohe, played by Kat Dennings, is a lover of music and fairy tales who can’t escape depression, and eventually turns to drugs, alcohol and even self-mutilation. The film shows the journey she undertakes through her addiction to drugs and recovery through rehab with a little help from her friends, David McKenna, a recovering alcoholic, Jamie Tworkowski (Chad Michael Murray), a surfer and musician, and two of Renee’s high school pals.

The film had a $3.4 million budget and was shot mainly in downtown Orlando. Valencia students had a chance to work side-by-side with professionals in the film industry to see exactly what the real business was all about.

“Renee” is the second Valencia film to make it into a festival. The first one, produced by UCF and Valencia film students, was “The Blair Witch Project” in 1999, which made a surprise appearance in the Sundance Film Festival.

The Film Festival, April 13 to the 22, is a 10-day-long festival that will show over 160 films. Theatres all over Orlando will be holding the event. For tickets and/or more information on the Florida Film Festival, go to http://www.floridafilmfestival.com/.