Imran Pareta releases debut film 'Ish' set in Luton
Turner Prize bursary winner Imran Pareta has released his debut film 'Ish', which is set in Luton.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Imran Pareta, the Turner Prize bursary winner, has released his debut feature film 'Ish', set in Luton. The story follows two 12-year-old boys, Ish, a British Bangladeshi, and his best friend Maram, a Palestinian child, as their friendship frays over one tense summer. The film explores themes of growing up, loss of innocence, and the impact of political tensions, including the war in Gaza, on young people.
Pareta drew on his own childhood experience of being stopped by police, a moment that forced him to reckon with how the outside world saw him. He cast non-actors from the local community to ensure authenticity. 'Ish' won the Audience Award at the Venice Film Festival and is set for cinema release at the end of the month. Pareta said he wanted to tell a culturally specific story that also speaks to universal human experiences, avoiding reducing characters to mere signifiers.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | Channel 4 |
|---|---|
| The director is a Turner Prize bursary winner. | |
| The film used non-actors from the local community. | |
| The film won the Audience Award at the Venice Film Festival. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
Channel 4 focused on the personal and universal dimensions of the film, highlighting the director's own experiences, the casting of local non-actors, and the film's handling of political themes like Gaza. The tone was analytical and supportive, framing the story as a nuanced portrait of childhood and identity.
- “Ish is a film about breakup. Not of romance, but two young boys battling a fraying friendship.”
- “If you tell their story truthfully and with nuance and love and care, then they are as what everyone else is. They're just these beautiful, flawed humans.”
- “Ish is kind of all of us.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.