Imran Perretta’s Debut Feature “Ish” Explores Childhood Trauma and Community in Luton

“Ish,” the first feature film by multidisciplinary artist Imran Perretta, follows 12-year-old Ish (played by Farhan Hasnat) and his best friend Maram (Yahya Kitana) during their final summer of boyhood in Luton. The narrative intertwines ordinary childhood activities—building dens, picking blackberries—with the weight of a grieving family and the lingering impact of a police stop-and-search that the director experienced at age 13. The film debuted in 2026 and has been screened nationwide as part of the BFI Fan’s Youth Culture season.

The Guardian

Perretta grew up in Streatham, south London, the son of a British-Italian music-journalist father and a Bangladeshi mother who worked as a child-protection social worker. His mother died of cancer when he was 21, a loss he describes as the catalyst for his artistic career. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he received a £10,000 bursary from the Turner Prize program.

The Guardian

The film’s autobiographical core stems from a stop-and-search he endured at age 13 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, an event he says “politicised” him and shaped his view of being perceived as a threat. He co-wrote the screenplay with Irish playwright Enda Walsh.

The Guardian

Casting involved a six-month process that auditioned roughly 900 local boys, ultimately selecting Hasnat and Kitana, who had been friends since toddlerhood. All principal child actors were first-time performers. Shooting took place on location in Luton over five weeks in the summer of 2024, with daily work limited to six hours to comply with child-actor protection regulations.

The Guardian

“Ish” uses the personal trauma of a stop-and-search to examine broader issues of Islamophobia, state surveillance, and the war on Gaza as they affect British youth. Perretta notes that contemporary social-media environments provide “no escape” from violent imagery, contrasting his own childhood, when such content could be turned off. The film also references the Prevent strategy’s practice of interviewing children without parental presence, highlighting systemic pressures on certain communities.

The Guardian

Perretta expressed relief that critics have compared “Ish” to classic coming-of-age works such as Ken Loach’s *Kes* and Satyajit Ray’s *Apu* trilogy rather than to the gritty urban drama *Kidulthood*. He emphasized that the film is “an extraordinary thing to make” but placed it in perspective, saying that on the scale of life’s challenges, a film set feels comparatively modest.

The Guardian

• “It was just about getting out of their way, letting them do what they do naturally, which is basically wind each other up,” — Peretta

The Guardian

Critical response has been largely positive, with reviewers describing the film as “poetic” and “heart-grabbing.” A few reviews were described as “middling,” often noting expectations that the film would resemble *Kidulthood*.

The Guardian

The film continues its rollout through the BFI Fan’s Youth Culture season, reaching audiences across the United Kingdom and prompting discussions about youth representation and the legacy of post-9/11 policies in contemporary Britain.

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