The 21st annual Florida Film Festival kicks off tonight, and Full Sail is excited to be celebrating its ninth year as the event’s primary sponsor. More than 150 films will be featured during the 10-day fest, including four that Full Sail students, faculty, and grads have production credits on.

We’ll be keeping you up-to-date all this week and next here on FSBlog about Festival news and events, but here’s a quick rundown of some of the FFF’s highlights:

The Art of FLIGHT

Full Sail is hosting one Florida Film Festival (FFF) event on campus – the screening of a snowboarding documentary called The Art of FLIGHT, followed by a Q&A discussion focusing on topics related to action sports film production and cinematography.

The Action Sports Film Forum and The Art of FLIGHT screening is a free event presented by Red Bull Media House in association with Brain Farm Digital Cinema. It takes place on Tuesday, April 17 at 1 p.m. in Full Sail Live 1.

Filmmaker Forums

There are four other Florida Film Festival educational forums, including Perseverance: Women in the Industry (April 18), How to Turn Small Movies into Big Box Office Success (April 19), The Agony and the Ecstasy of the Screenwriter in Today’s Hollywood (April 20), and the Filmmaker Forum (April 20).

Full Sail University Film Program Director Anne Watters is on the panel for Perseverance: Women in the Industry, which takes place at the Enzian on April 18 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

All the film forums are free and open to the public.

Full Sail-Related Films

Full Sail students, faculty, and alumni have been a part of several films added to this year’s lineup.

The Orlando-based production Renee, starring Kat Dennings and Chad Michael Murray, was announced as the opening night film. Full Sail University graduate David McKenna co-produced the film, which includes scenes shot on the university’s campus and audio post-production work completed in Full Sail’s dubbing stage. Several students, faculty, and alumni worked on the film, which will have its East Coast premiere when it opens the Festival on Friday.

Krass, an Icelandic film produced and directed by Full Sail graduate Tomas H. Johannesson, will have its Southeast U.S. premiere and will screen during the International Shorts competition.

Among the films scheduled to be screened during the Florida Shorts: The Best of Brouhaha program are two films featuring the talents of Full Sail University’s students, alumni, and faculty. The short film Captain Fin was written, co-produced, and directed by Full Sail University Directing Lab Specialist Kevin James O’Neill and was co-produced by Lighting Course Director Rob Tuscani. Twelve Full Sail University faculty members and 17 of the school’s students worked on the film, which was selected for an Audience Award at the 20th Annual Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase. In addition, Soup, a short documentary focusing on the trials and tribulations of Melbourne’s Daily Bread Soup Kitchen, was written and directed by Mark Wright as a film project prior to graduating from Full Sail’s Film degree program.

Beyond the films and free educational forums, there are also ticketed events with celebrity guests and chefs at the Florida Film Festival, including An Afternoon with Barry Levinson (director, screenwriter and producer), which will be moderated by Sports Marketing & Media Program Director Josh Mora.