2021 was a challenging year for REEF. With the fires taking a lot from Akkar forests, followed with the explosion of “Tlel” village, to the severe economic crises depriving us of basic logistics to put on a physical festival like fuel and gasoline, and were very minimal cultural activities were still happening on the country bigger scale, we carried on with determination having “Despite everything” as a tagline. The third edition of REEF was launched!
The edition took place from the 9th to 13th of September 2021. it was a success on all levels offering a physical festival with environmental activities, cultural events, screenings, film competition, rural dinner, etc.. to more than 3000 attendants from the north region and Beirut. Online programming over a month followed the physical event on AFLAMUNA.
The ensuing crisis always persisting in Lebanon pushed us to select “waste” as a theme. Our guest environmental and industrial engineer Ziad Abi Shaker and members of the Waste Management Coalition presented waste reduction solutions and composting training.
A call was launched for the Lebanese youth and asked them to create short films dealing with waste as a main topic. A total of 25 films were received among which 17 great quality ones were selected. 3 films were awarded based on great effort, serious research, and artistic value.
A behind-the-scenes video was projected to highlight the experience of the participants in the Animation workshop where 3 short animation films were produced from collected waste in Akkar forests.
“Food from Nature” was also an essential theme for REEF. A year-round training result was presented during an interactive conference led by specialist Dr Marc Beiruti. In addition, participants enjoyed a market of local products and Mouneh, while tasting forgotten traditional recipes. Morning time was filled with hiking and on-site discussions with experts about solutions for the protection of forests after wildfires. Renowned artist Jahida Wehbe opened REEF bringing to the audience musical “Patrimoine” fading away.
