The Arabic program will host its first Arab Film Festival Thursday through Saturday.

The festival will include viewings of award-winning films from Arab countries. Each day will be devoted to one of three selected films, but all three are spoken in Arabic with English subtitles. The showings will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in 2019 Morrill Hall all three days. Arabic coffee and popcorn will be provided to attendees courtesy of the Arab Students Association.

The Arabic program decided to host the festival this month because it is National Arab American Heritage Month. Its intention is to show Arab contributions to cinema. The three movies selected for the festival are not only award-winning movies but they also will inform attendees of the festival about various aspects in Arab culture that are often overshadowed in Western media.

Thursday’s showing will be “On the Bride’s Side” (“Lo Sto con la Sposa”), which is a 2014 drama film produced in Italy but features a predominantly Arab cast. The plot is about a Palestinian poet and Italian journalist who encounter a group of fellow Palestinians and Syrians who are attempting to get to Sweden to escape the civil unrest in the Arab region. They attempt safe passage by faking a wedding to avoid being arrested as traffickers.

The movie won the FEDIC Award at the Venice International Film Festival in 2014.

Friday’s film will be “Theeb.” It is described as “a coming-of-age story of a young Jordanian Bedouin boy, Theeb, as he embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to his secret destination during the Middle East theater of World War I.” “Theeb” was produced in Jordan and was released in 2014. Rather than hiring professional actors, the film uses actors from the Bedouin area of southern Jordan.

Writer Bassel Ghandour and director Naji Abu Nowar both spent a year living in the desert with the Bedouins to familiarize themselves with their customs and lifestyle.“Theeb” has been nominated for and won awards, including an Academy Award nomination for “Best Foreign Film” in 2014.

The festival will conclude with Saturday’s viewing of “Wadjda”. The film centers around a Saudi Arabian girl named Wadjda, who attempts to save money for a bicycle. It tells the story of how people live their lives through the experiences of a little girl and serves as a glimpse into the role of females in Saudi society and the social and subsequent legal restrictions placed upon them.

Released in 2012, it is the first feature-length film created by a female Saudi director and shot entirely in Saudi Arabia. The film secured a nomination for “Best Foreign Film” at the 2014 BAFTA Awards. The director, Haifaa Al-Mansour, won the Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ “This Year’s Outstanding Achievement By a Woman in the Film Industry” in 2013 for highlighting the issues women face in her country. The film has been nominated for and has won countless awards.

Parks Library is also celebrating National Arab American Heritage Month by featuring a book display that highlights contributions of Arab Americans in different disciplines.