Welby Ings packs a ‘Punch’ with feature film debut

Punch features Jim, a promising teenage boxer, who is training under the watch of his demanding and alcoholic father. When Jim develops a relationship with a male classmate, the two are forced to navigate isolation, homophobia, and the brutality of small-town life. As Jim discovers what it means to be gay, he realizes how little strength has to do with heroism.

Punch stars Academy Award® nominee Tim Roth (The Hateful Eight), Jordan Oosterhof (“The Cul De Sac”) and Conan Hayes (“Sweet Tooth”).

Check out our interview with Welby:

Director’s Statement 

Punch has been in development for a long time and I have never let go of the determination to bring it into the light. It sits in the context of recent films like Moonlight, where sexuality and bullying in a coming-of-age narrative are used to explore the vulnerability and beauty of the human condition.

Although it is Jim’s story, this is really the story of anybody who has fought to find their place in the world, even when this means losing the things that keep you safe.

Punch looks at love in an unusual way. It is essentially two connected love stories; one between a father and his son and the other between two young men. Jim, Stan, and Whetu are all flawed but despite their clumsy handling of relationships with each other, they are all good men.

We feel for them and we want their lives to go in the right direction. When Whetu and Jim show us that they are free, that they have become strong and sensitive but separate men, our struggles with them and our hopes for them reach an unpredicted kind of triumph.

 Punch hits Theaters, on Digital and on Demand March 10 and on DVD April 11

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