“Biodiversity and Cinema” is a project that brought together filmmakers and ecologists for the first time in Lebanon to create documentary works on biodiversity. Implemented by Hammana Artist House, REEF, and AFLAMUNA, it was launched at the end of 2023 with a “biodiversity residency.” During this residency, a group of 22 filmmakers and ecologists followed a biodiversity awareness program before creating and producing eight short films.  REEF 2024 in Kobayat will host the first screening of these works, with the filmmakers and environmentalists present to discuss their experiences and the issues raised in their films with the audience.

Shot in various regions of Lebanon, the films tackle different themes related to biodiversity: 

– ‘The Snake Hill’ by Joëlle Abou Chabké on pesticides and permaculture in the Bekaa.

– ‘A Grotto for Sale’ by Muriel Honein on the sale of a grotto in Northern Lebanon.

– ‘The Tree of Hell’ by Raed Zeno on the danger of imported invasive plants.

– ‘The Earth Weavers’ by Rima Kaddissi on women’s ancestral traditions.

– ‘Shift’ by Moussa Shabandar & Shérine Raffoul on the  observation of migratory birds.

– ‘Memory Within a Tree’ by Wassim Tanios on the endemic Lebanese Juniper tree.

– ‘Manthour Beirut’ by Farah F. Naboulsi on the endemic flower in the heart of Beirut.

– ‘Along The Water’ by Rebecca Taouk on the challenges surrounding water resources from Tripoli to the Kornet el Sawda mountain peak.

The films will be voted on by the public, and judged by a professional jury and an amateur youth jury, the “REEF Ambassadors”. The winner of the professional jury prize will receive a financial award courtesy of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).