Filmbar screening of Shunji Iwai's "All About Lily Chou-Chou" (2001) at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Saturday, October 25, 2025 at 5:00 pm

Filmbar screening of Shunji Iwai's "All About Lily Chou-Chou" (2001) at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Saturday, October 25, 2025 at 5:00 pm. Kindly note changed timing.

For children around the world, music is often the only salvation when the pain and anxiety of teenage life becomes too much to bear. Yuichi (Hayato Ichihara) is in the 8th grade and he worships Lily Chou-Chou, a Bjork-like chanteuse whose epic music is lush and transcendent. Yuichi only lives for Lily Chou-Chou's big Tokyo concert, where the lies and violence can be washed away by the presence of his goddess and her powerful music. But fate has yet another obstacle in store for Lily's devoted fan.

Address: Research and Publication Centre (RPC), 2nd Floor, 65 Main Gulberg, Lahore. Lift is functional. Tea will be served.

Rashed Rahman

Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)

Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC) (on Facebook)

Filmbar's screening of Walter Salles' "The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004) at Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 5:00 pm

Filmbar screening of Walter Salles' "The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004) at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 5:00 pm (kindly note the changed time).

"The Motorcycle Diaries" is an adaptation of a journal written by Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna when he was 23 years old. He and his friend Alberto Granado are typical college students who, seeking fun and adventure before graduation, decide to travel across Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela in order to do their medical residency at a leper colony. Beginning as a buddy/road movie in which Ernesto and Alberto are looking for chicks, fun and adventure before they must grow up and have a more serious life. As is said in the film itself, it's about "two lives running parallel for a while." The two best friends start off with the same goals and aspirations, but by the time the film is over, it's clear what each man's destiny has become.

Address: Research and Publication Centre (RPC), 2nd Floor, 65 Main Gulberg, Lahore. Lift is functional. The film will be followed by an informal discussion. Tea will be served.

Rashed Rahman

Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)

Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC) (on Facebook)

Filmbar's screening of "Nobody Knows" at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) at 5:00 pm on Saturday, October 11, 2025

Filmbar's screening of "Nobody Knows" (2004) at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) at 5:00 pm on Saturday, October 11, 2025. Kindly note change of timing to 5:00 pm.

Four siblings live happily with their mother in a small apartment in Tokyo. The children all have different fathers and have never been to school. The very existence of three of them has been hidden from the landlord. One day, the mother leaves behind a little money and a note, charging her oldest boy to look after the others. And so begins the children's odyssey, a journey nobody knows. Though engulfed by the cruel fate of abandonment, the four children do their best to survive in their own little world, devising and following their own set of rules. When they are forced to engage with the world outside their cocooned universe, the fragile balance that has sustained them collapses. Their innocent longing for their mother, their wary fascination toward the outside world, their anxiety over their increasingly desperate situation, their inarticulate cries, their kindness to each other, their determination to survive on wits and courage. 

The screening will be followed by tea and an informal discussion. Lift is operational.

Rashed Rahman

Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)

Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC) (on Facebook)

The October 2025 issue of Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) is out

The October 2025 issue of Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) is out. Link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com

Contents:

1. S Zulfiqar Gilani: Political Narrative of Pakistan: Problems, Costs, Challenges.

2. Vijay Prashad: It would be fine to help make Mexico a happy place.

3. Ray Nunes: From Marx to Mao – and After – II: Programme of the Cultural Revolution.

4. Thomas I Palley: A History: How the US exploited fractures in the post-Soviet Order – II.

5. Mahmood Mamdani: Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism – III: Afghan jihad fed into global Islamic war.

6. Kriti Shah: The Baloch and Pashtun nationalist movements in Pakistan: Colonial legacy and the failure of state policy – IV: Nationalism, religion, political and economic representation.

7. Navid Shahzad: Pakistan Here and Now: The Language of the Heart – III: At the crossroads of poetry and politics.

Rashed Rahman

Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)

Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC) (on Facebook)

Filmbar and RPC's screening of "I Am Cuba" at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Saturday, September 20, 2025 at 6:00 pm

Filmbar and RPC's screening of "I Am Cuba" at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Saturday, September 20, 2025 at 6:00 pm.

This study of Cuba – partially written by renowned poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko – captures the island just before it made the transition to a post-revolutionary society. Moving from city to countryside and back again, "I Am Cuba" examines the various problems caused by political oppression as well as by great discrepancies in wealth and power. Beginning in Havana in the pre-Castro era, we see how foreigners contributed to the city's prostitution and poverty; this sequence features dreamy, hallucinogenic camera work that creates a feeling of unease and dislocation. Then, in glorious images of palm trees and fertile land, the film looks at the sugarcane fields in the countryside, and the difficulties faced by peasants working the land. Finally, back in the city again, leftist students battle the police and a corrupt government – and pay a high price for their rebellion.

An informal discussion and tea will follow the screening.

Address: Research and Publication Centre (RPC), 2nd Floor, 65 Main Boulevard Gulberg, Lahore (next to Standard Chartered Bank, above Indesign showroom).

Rashed Rahman

Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)

Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC) (on Facebook)

 

Filmbar and RPC screening of Ingmar Bergman's "Autumn Sonata" (1978) at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC)

Filmbar and RPC's screening of Ingmar Bergman's "Autumn Sonata" (1978) at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Saturday, September 7, 2025 at 6:00 pm.

Leonardo, the long time partner of Charlotte, a world renowned concert pianist, has just passed away. Because of Leonardo's passing, Charlotte's daughter, Eva, formerly a journalist, has invited her mother for an extended stay at the country home where she lives with her minister husband Viktor. Despite not having seen Eva in seven years as Charlotte is absorbed solely in her own life, Charlotte agrees. Upon arrival at the parsonage, Charlotte learns that her other daughter, Helena, is now living there with Eva as well. Helena, who is mentally disabled, used to be institutionalized until Eva decided to look after her herself starting two years ago. In some respects, Eva taking care of Helena replaces taking care of her son Erik, who accidentally drowned when he was four. Eva takes solace in believing that Erik is still a major part of her life despite his death. Charlotte also has not seen Helena in quite some time, and Eva surmises that if Charlotte knew that Helena was there, she probably would not have come. Despite telling Eva otherwise, Charlotte in private does mention her displeasure at seeing Helena there. As Eva spends more time with her mother, who she believes is a calculating woman whose actions always have a meaning behind them, her feelings from childhood re-emerge, of which she tells her mother and which she knows have shaped the unhappy person she is today. That unhappiness also has affected the way she views her marriage. Charlotte, in turn, explains the reasons for the way that she is in life.

Address: Research and Publication Centre (RPC), 2nd Floor, 65 Main Boulevard Gulberg, Lahore (next to Standard Chartered Bank, above Indesign showroom).

The screening will be followed by an informal discussion and then tea. Lift is functional.

Rashed Rahman

Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)

Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC) (on Facebook)

The September 2025 issue of Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) is out

The September 2025 issue of Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) is out. Link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com

Contents:

1. Ray Nunes: From Marx to Mao – And After.

2. Thomas I Palley: A History: How the US exploited fractures in the post-Soviet Order.

3. Reading Karl Marx illegal.

4. Mahmood Mamdani: Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism – II: The Cold War after Indochina.

5. Kriti M Shah: The Baloch and Pashtun national movements in Pakistan: Colonial Legacy – III: The Conflagration of Pakistan’s Northwestern border.

6. Navid Shahzad: Pakistan Here and Now: The Language of the Heart – II: Exile, yearning and loss.

7. S Zulfiqar Gilani: Authoritarian-Dark Triad Personality and Politics in Pakistan.

Rashed Rahman

Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)

Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC) (on Facebook).

Cells: +92 302 8482737 & +92 333 4216335

Email: rashed.rahman1@gmail.com