Champaign Movie Makers

05/09/2026

The summer before her sophomore year of college, Ella Yoder, now-junior in Media, wrote and directed a comedy short film. She said her professor loved it and challenged her to write another short film script during winter break. It was no easy task. “For lack of better words, it was hard as hell,....

04/28/2026

It's a busy week for local film events! Here's some things to keep an eye on.

1. Wednesday, 4/29: The 2nd Annual Savoy Lumière! has a selection of HomeGrown Shorts at 7:00 PM at the Savoy 16 + IMAX. These shorts all have a connection to our community.

2. Thursday, 4/30: Illini Union will be hosting a Cultural Short Films Festival at 8:00 PM on the University of Illinois Main Quad. The list of films hasn't been advertised, but they have been soliciting submissions from students and community members.

3. Saturday, 5/2: The Savoy Lumiere presents a block of short films titled "Is This Therapy?" at the Savoy 16 at 2:30 PM. One of the shorts featured, "Slots of Life", was written and directed by local filmmaker Kevin Lau and featured a lot of local talent in the crew.

4. Saturday, 5/2: The UIUC Student Film Festival will be presented at 7 PM at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures. Every short in the program was made by U of I students.

5. Saturday, 5/2: The Savoy Lumiere closes out its Saturday programming with the feature film "When the Night Falls". This film was filmed primarily north of CU (around Kankakee and Clifton), but it features a number of locally based filmmakers on the crew.

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04/27/2026

The first movie of the 10th Pens to Lens has been filmed. Students, you can submit your own short films, and we even have equipment you can borrow to make your films this summer!

02/23/2026

Brim, a feature produced here in Champaign-Urbana featuring lots of local actors and crew, will be getting a theatrical and streaming release in 2026!

02/22/2026

The deadline for the 10th edition of Pens to Lens is this Saturday! Don't know where to start? We're hosting a student screenwriting workshop that afternoon. Your students will have a finished screenplay turned in by the end of the workshop!

This is your friendly reminder that we are now less than a week away from the deadline to submit screenplays to the 10th edition of Pens to Lens. All screenplays must be turned in by end of day Saturday, February 28!

02/19/2026

Congratulations to Champaign-Urbana native Paul Debevec for being named one of 15 Scientific and Technical Academy Award winners!

02/12/2026

The deadline is coming up! Screenplays submissions for Pens to Lens 10 are due at the end of the month. Don't know where to start? We have two upcoming workshops that will take students from the basics of screenplay storytelling to a completed script in just a couple of hours. Space is limited for these workshops so make sure to sign up soon!

02/04/2026

Thanks to everyone who came out to last night's Local Movie Showcase at the Orpheum Champaign! We showed 10 locally made short films from different genres and different eras in local filmmaking history. We might just have to do a showcase screening again. Stay tuned!

01/30/2026

The local screenings don't end this weekend. After the 48-Hour Film Competition Screening and Moses the Black on Sunday, we'll be hosting a Local Movie Showcase at the Orpheum Champaign on Tuesday, February 3 at 7 PM. Come enjoy a feature length program of short films (some new, some old, and one REALLY old). Admission is free!

10/04/2025

We're out at Urbana's Market at the Square all morning with a pop up movie theater. Come watch some short films while you shop!