CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — High school filmmakers from across Virginia will get to see their work on the big screen in Charlottesville during the Virginia High School League Film Festival on June 6.

The festival, entering its 11th year, will take place at the V. Earl Dickinson Building and will feature 45 official selections out of 93 total submissions across 27 schools.

“We do have schools represented from all across the Commonwealth,” VHSL Assistant Director Shawn Knight told Cville Right Now. “Large schools, small schools, rural schools, urban schools, suburban schools. So, it’s a pretty diverse group of submissions.”

Each film was evaluated, scored and ranked by film industry professionals, with the top eight films in each of the six categories being named official selections. Those six categories are animation, commercial, documentary, experimental, narrative and PSA

“We use people from all over the country to do this,” Knight said. “Some are in-state, but some are out-of-state as well, evaluating these.”

Along with the screenings of the selections, the festival will also feature keynote speaker Mark Maxey, an Emmy-award winning producer and president of Rolling Pictures. His previous credits include projects with actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Alan Cummings and Kevin Bacon among others. He also served on the national board of directors of the Producers Guild of America, is a co-chair of PGA Capital and is an active member of the television academy.

“Each year we try to have a keynote who can provide some insight, some wisdom to our young filmmakers,” Knight said.

One big change to the event this year is that tickets will not be required for the general public to attend. Knight said they wants to remove any barriers for the filmmakers as well as any other people from coming.

“We wanted to encourage as many people to come and see this fine work of these young filmmakers as possible,” he said.

The films will be screened one category at a time, followed by a Q&A with the directors on-stage. The event will conclude with the awards presentation, which will present awards for best films as well as audience choice in each of the six categories.

Knight said each year during the Q&A sessions, it’s “remarkable” to hear some of their responses to the questions and how they put their films together.

“I think some people think you need really fancy equipment to do these things, but many of these students are doing it, putting these films together with an iPhone and movie making software,” he said. “It’s really exciting to see and hear their stories of how they were inspired. What inspired their stories. Their journey and their challenges of what they had to overcome in putting the films together.”

Overall, he said the thing that sticks out to him the most each year is how seriously the students approach the craft of filmmaking, and it is a “treat” for him to see the final products these students produce every year.

“It’s remarkable to see what young people are doing and the quality of the work,” he said.