Every weekend, Americans rush to their local movie theater to see the latest blockbuster. Perhaps it’s an action-packed thriller with plenty of special effects, or the latest light-hearted romantic comedy. In a film world that’s focused on the money-makers, it can be easy to ignore movies made by filmmakers outside the United States.

This Spring Quarter, OUAB is looking to give three of these international films some attention.

“The King’s Speech,” the 2011 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, will be shown on Saturday at 8 p.m. as part of the International Film Series. The other two selections are the Spanish film “Biutiful,” and the Italian film “I Am Love,” which will be shown on May 7 and May 21, respectively.

All three screenings will take place in Woody’s Tavern, in the Ohio Union. Entry is free, and popcorn and drinks are provided.

This series is one of OUAB’s graduate/professional programs. While these events are geared towards graduate and professional students, non-student guests are permitted.

This series was originally envisioned by Jay Mehta, a graduate student in engineering. When he came to OSU as an international student, he found that there weren’t many campus events that appealed to students from other cultures. He looked to change that with the International Film Series.

“By adding an event like this we can actually attract a more international crowd, which is a big part of graduate students at Ohio State,” he said.

The films for spring quarter were selected based on their potential popularity. All of them were released in the past year.

Kerry Hodak, the OUAB graduate/professional events chair, said OUAB hopes a program like this is able to provide an appealing weekend activity for students at OSU.

“The goal that the committee had was to offer some new programming to students at Ohio State that provide them another option on the weekends,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for them to kick back and relax a little bit over the weekend before things get really busy in the lab or back in the classroom.”

Hodak said that the cost for these screenings can change depending on the film being shown. She said that she has never seen an international film which cost OUAB more than $800 to show.

Britny Ylisaari, a second-year civil engineering major, has taken classes on Russian film. She believes that introducing students to foreign film can help to expand their knowledge of foreign culture.

“We (Russian students) have our own film series, but it’d be nice to get them from other cultures as well,” she said.