ISLAMABAD: The French Embassy on Thursday hosted a screening of `A Walnut Tree` as part of the UN`s ongoing Human Rights Through Cinematography film festival, which began last week.

Showcasing 23 films in various embassies to highlight violations of basic human rights around the world, the festival also celebrates Human Rights Day which is commemorated by the UN on Dec 10 each year. The UN is asking everyone to stand for someone`s rights this year.

The UN has collaborated with the European Union on the festival, which will also be conducted in Gujrat, Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore and Karachi.

`A Walnut Tree`has been directed by Ammar Aziz and is an amateur documentary which shows the toll that the indefinite war on terror takes on an internally displaced old man.

The film follows a family displaced by thewar on terror, especially an elderly man, who lives with his family in the Jalozai refugee camp and longs to go back home. He is a grandfather and was a poet and teacher prior to being displaced.

He has to confront the prospect that home may no longer exist and may now be just a make-believe place, a mirage in his mind.

Contrary to his son`s advice, the old man begins the journey back home, never to be found again.

`It was a moving film and it was impressive how the filmmakers got so intimate with the family and showed their fantasies, problems, doubts and hopes. The film will create awareness among the hundreds and thousands who will watch it,` said an audience member, Amelie Harenstein.

`A line from the film has been etched on my mind, when the old man said that he did not see people anymore, but stories. The internally displaced people in the film only had stories to tell of the daughters who were killed orof a loved one they had lost,` said another guest, Olivia Neau.

However, some in the audience felt that the film did not show the real picture, especially with reference to the presence of the role of the Pakistan Army.

The fact that the documentary moved with such ease, following the effected families, was hard to digest for some, who started wondering about the source of funds for the film.

`How come there was no sign of the security forces in the film? Did you delete the scene with the military in them,` a member of the audience asked Mr Aziz, who said that he had been under pressure to not show some images.

`We kept a low profile while filming and were afraid of showing some of the scenes, which had to be removed,` he explained.

The Walnut Tree runs for 80 minutes and was made in Pashto, with English subtitles.

Af ter a viewing in Lahore, the film was shown for the second time in Islamabad.