Evanston’s first film festival will show movies featuring deaf characters, actors and filmmakers as part of this weekend’s Festival of Cinema for the Deaf.

The mission of the festival, which also shows digitally captioned mainstream films, is to expand movie-viewing opportunities to millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing people.

The festival debuted in Chicago last year and expands to Century Theatres, 1715 Maple Ave., today and Saturday. A similar selection of films will also be shown at the Esquire Theater, 58 E. Oak St., in Chicago

“(The festival) is definitely a beneficial thing and it will draw people from the university because there is a very strong arts community here,” said Communication sophomore Mike Sippel.

Beginning at 6 p.m. today, Century Theatres offers three sets of films for $15. The first series features movies with themes about deafness like “God Kill Her,” an independent film about deaf girls in an Arab society. Mainstream hit “Daredevil” plays at 8 p.m. and will be digitally captioned. Friday closes out with an “After Dark” program of short films made by deaf filmmakers or starring deaf actors.

On Saturday, kids’ movies will run during the day. Short documentaries will start at 6 p.m. and short films at 8 p.m., and an “England and Down Under” set begins at 10 p.m.

“Having those films centered around a concept makes you think about both the film and the concept,” Brayton said. “(A festival) puts the movie back into the position of being a major event. It’s more than a movie as a time-filler.”

Emmy Award-winning actress Liz Tannebaum and Joshua Flanders, who is currently editing a book called “Cinema and the Deaf,” organized the festival in a coalition with the Chicago Institute for the Moving Image.

The festival will give awards to 10 films, including a “Ted” Award for Excellence in Film, accepted last year by deaf actor Bernard Bragg. The Evanston festivities end Saturday, but the festival runs in Chicago until March 3.