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)