A brand-new sapphic Irish film has just dropped, and it’s all about queer intimacy, desire, and gorgeous boxers.

The project, titled Catfight, comes from the mind of Tara Devi, a Dublin-based queer director, and it was developed by a predominantly women-led team. As the director puts it, the film is a “wordless visual exploration of queer desire told through the language of boxing”, with a sapphic storyline developing between two rival boxers battling it out in the ring.

The project’s synopsis reads: “Two rival female boxers meet in a gym and are drawn into an escalating match where rounds of combat mirror rounds of queer intimacy — a wordless love story told through sweat, bruises, endurance, and surrender.”

Models Grace Indira and Blessing Kingsley play the leads, while London-based queer musician Niara has provided the score. As you can see from the production images and the trailer, Catfight is a visual feast. You can watch the trailer for the video element of the project below.

Ahead of the film’s online release, Devi said she was inspired, nay “completely consumed” by Heated Rivalry, and cites the queer sports drama, particularly its underlying tension and exploration of yearning, as her inspiration for the project.

In her director’s statement, Devi also spoke about how she wanted Catfight to be an exploration of intimacy between women, one that resists the sensationalisation that is all too common in depictions of sapphic love.

While Catfight is a short-form visual project, it exists beyond the realm of video, with Devi describing it as a zine, consisting of high-resolution photographic stills, collage and a written reflection on queer identity and tension.

The film is set to drop on Tara Devi’s YouTube channel, which you can find via this link. And, to stay up to date with the other elements of the project, make sure you follow Devi on Instagram.