'I WANTED TO BRING OUT THE TEXTURE OF LEH'

Filmmaker Maisam Ali speaks about premiering his film In Retreat in L'ACID, the parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival, capturing Leh in a different light, and more

-  NAMRATA JOSHI

DIRECTOR Maisam Ali's In Retreat is all set to have its world premiere in L'ACID (Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema), the parallel, independent sidebar in Cannes. It will be the first Indian film to play there.

The unconventional film is set in Ladakh and plays with the ideas of time and space, geographical expanse, and the sense of belonging and disconnect. The themes are explored through a middle-aged man who returns to his hometown after a long absence but gets late for his brother's funeral.

A product of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, Ali is the batchmate of Payal Kapadia whose debut feature All We Imagine As Light plays in the Competition section of the Cannes Film Festival this year. He spoke to CE about all that went into the making of In Retreat.

Excerpts: Debut films are supposed to emerge from a personal space. Does it hold true for In Retreat? The idea came to me in the film school. My forefathers, originally from Kashmir, were traders. They lived in Ladakh but would also travel for trade to parts of Central Asia and China. My father did MBBS in the 80s, went to Iran and practised there. I was born in Iran and then we moved back to Ladakh.