Imran Perretta says his debut feature, “Ish,” has connected with audiences well beyond the activist and politically engaged groups he initially expected. The film follows two young friends whose lives are changed by a police stop-and-search, exploring racial profiling and its consequences.
Set in Luton, the film stars Farhan Hasnat, Yahya Kitana and Sudha Bhuchar. It won the audience award at Venice Critics’ Week in 2025 and has continued to travel the festival circuit. Perretta told The Hollywood Reporter that its cinema release, which he expected to mark the end of the film’s journey, instead gave it a new start.
The film has also been shown at community and activist screenings in countries including Germany, the United States and Russia. Perretta said programmers in Paris were keen to screen it amid the riots there, seeing connections with discussions about police brutality, police powers and young people seeking a better future.
Perretta believes the film’s themes have helped it speak to a broad range of viewers, from cinephiles to regular moviegoers. He pointed to what he described as an “authoritarian turn” in Western countries, saying that the use of police powers and the experience of surveillance have become widely shared concerns. “It sparks a conversation,” he said.
On Wednesday, Perretta was named as part of the 2026 U.K. BAFTA Breakthrough cohort, supported by Netflix. Previously known as a multidisciplinary artist, he is also working on music, an exhibition at Tate Britain titled “the destructors,” and new screenwriting projects. One screenplay in progress examines property, land and the meaning and use of ownership in Britain.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter.