The first ever Lebanese Film Festival in Raleigh will be showing the documentary Twelve Angry Lebanese Nov. 3 in the Erdahl-Cloyd Wing at D.H . Hill Library.

Getting the event on campus was made a reality by the work of the Khayrallah Program for Lebanese-American Studies and its director, Akram Khater .

“We have the Khayrallah Program at State, which focuses on researching and preserving the history of the Lebanese in North Carolina. The festival will be introducing [this] on the campus. We’re trying to get a new view of the Lebanese to our students; we wanted to show them their culture…” Khater said.

It’s not surprising there has never been a Lebanese Film Festival in Raleigh before, Khater said.

“There’s been a Lebanese film program for the past seven years…but whenever you try to put on events, it’s difficult. It takes many resources. Things don’t just happen overnight. We’re [even] flying one of the directors from New York,” Khater said. “[The program] was able to get in touch with the filmmakers and arrange the funding.”

The funding for the festival was provided by Dr. Moise Khayrallah .

Marsha Orgeron , director of film studies, saw the many possibilities this event will offer.

“I will say that I’m tremendously excited to not only have the opportunity to have these films screened on our campus, but also that the filmmakers [directors and cinematographers] will be present at all of the screenings,” Orgeron said. “This is a valuable opportunity for our students to get to interact with the people who made these films, and to ask questions about their process.”

Anna Bigelow, associate professor of Islamic studies, has yet to see the films playing but believes they will be beneficial for the University.

“I do think this is a great series of films and a terrific opportunity for NCSU students to learn more about the diversity of Lebanese culture and history,” Bigelow said.

Khater noted how there is a skewed perception of the Lebanese in this day and age.

“The idea is to expose NCSU students and the larger community to aspects of Lebanese and Arab culture that are different from the mainstream media. Generally speaking, looking at how the Lebanese are portrayed…they are shown as either extremely violent or terrorists,” said Khater . “The 20thcentury portrayed negative imagery, which is a problem that we have, but we’re [trying] to overcome these problems.”

There will be a seminar with Jawad Metni , director of Remnants of a War, on Thursday, Nov. 10 in Withers 331 at 3 p.m ., before the screening of the film that night.

Remnants of a War and The One Man Village – Thursday Nov.17 will be the final two films premiering at the Lebanese Film Festival.