Where Can We Be Found? (أين يمكن أن تجدنا؟) focuses on the state of Lebanese Cedar trees (Cedrus libani) in Lebanon today. In parallel to explorations of the various ecologies that the tree inhabits and co-inhabits, the film re-tells transhistorical narratives of the Cedar, which has been used since ancient times as a symbol of eternity, immortality, and more recently as an emblem of political superiority, while the biological tree itself is near extinction. Tracing various degrees of human impact leading to the tree’s contemporary demise, for example, the disruption of its habitat due to climate change and extractive tourism—and its use as a civic logo to craft the illusion of a distinct Lebanese identity, ‘Where Can We Be Found?’ distinguishes the Lebanese Cedar as an autonomous being from the various ways in which it has been used as a national, cultural, and ecological symbol, or otherwise misconstrued.
