Some of central Illinois’ youngest screenwriters will see their films come to life on the big screen this weekend. 

Calling all young screenwriters. The Champaign-Urbana Film Society is looking for kids to submit their screen plays. 

The Fifth Annual Pens to Lens Gala and Screening is Saturday at the Virginia Theatre in downtown Champaign. That’s the end result of the annual student screenwriting and filmmaking competition, where 16 student screenplays and four student films will be shown on the Virginia’s big screen.

The Pens to Lens student screenwriting competition is now in its fifth year.  The project of the Champaign-Urbana Film Society is accepting screenwriting submissions from K-12 students in east central Illinois now through February 28th.

Two local filmmakers explain to Illinois Public Media's Brian Moline what drew them to choose their screenplays from among 200 submissions from area students for this year's Pens to Lens event.