It was a day of awareness in the Hughes-Trigg Theatre as the compelling films of the 3rd Annual Palestinian Film Festival were screened to a small but attentive audience on Sunday.

First on the slate was “Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land,” a hard-hitting documentary that was co-directed by Bathsheba Ratzkoff and Sut Jhally. The film provides a comparison between U.S. and international media outlets and their respective coverage of the Palestine-Israel conflict. The interviewees agreed that misrepresentations in U.S. coverage have shaped America’s inaccurate views on the plight in the Middle East.

The film went on to expose how the foreign interests of U.S. politicians and corporations (oil, the desire for military bases in that area, etc.) play into the hands of Israeli public relations operatives to influence how news of the occupation and revolts are reported. Context is everything in this extremely enlightening documentary that proves you shouldn’t believe everything you see on television.

Also screened at the festival was Norman Finkelstein’s, “Is Criticism of Israel Anti-Semitic?” Not a film so much as a recorded two-hour lecture, Finkelstein’s dissertation was humorous in a sardonic way but managed to remain bitingly honest. Finkelstein exposed writers who side with the Israelis as frauds and cited their specific plagiaristic tendencies. The speech was an eloquent assertion of political beliefs, but it also gave hope to those who are informed about the true nature of the conflict in Palestine.

The evening concluded with “Rana’s Wedding,” directed by Hany Abu-Assad. The film depicts the difficulties of Palestinian life as seen through the eyes of a 17-year-old girl who wants to marry for love. The film, also known as “Another Day in Jerusalem,” is both frustrating and heartwarming as it shows the human effects of occupation. The actual war takes a backseat to the plot, but it underscores the film as it provides each obstacle to Rana’s marriage attempt. “Rana’s Wedding” demonstrates that love conquers all, even in the face of adversity.

Overall, the festival exposed an upsetting truth: Americans don’t really know the whole story behind the conflict in Palestine. That is precisely why events like the Palestinian Film Festival should continue to occur.