Cedars in the Pine highlights Lebanese history

posted on: Jul 26, 2015

By Kate Dodd
The Chronicle

THE screening of the film ‘Cedars of the Pine’ made for an interesting discussion said Australian Lebanese Historical Society’s Queensland coordinator Dr Anne Monsour.

Dr Monsour said the film, which was made by the Khayrallah program of Lebanese-American study of the North Carolina State University, highlighted details about the Lebanese migration to North Carolina in the United States of America.

She said it was made to document the story of the Lebanese migration, put faces to the story and clear up some of the misunderstandings associated.

She said the film covered events from 1880 to the present and was shown in Toowoomba (and Australia) to highlight the parallells of experiences of the Lebanese who migrated to the US and the Lebanese who migrated to Australia.

“It was an interesting film,” she said.

Dr Monsour said Cedars in the Pine highlighted some of the issues the Lebanese had come across, such as language loss, and discussed what parts of their culture they chose to hold onto and which parts they did not.

“Family, food and faith, that was what they held on to,” she said.

Dr Monsour said those parts of Lebanese culture had also been explored in Toowoomba, during an exhibition at the Cobb and Co Museum several years ago.

After the screening, she said both Lebanese and non-Lebanese attendees discussed the film.

“It was very positive and I was very pleased to see people of a non-Lebanese background attend,” she said.

“We were able to talk about what they found was similar and the differences.”