Interview with Emmy-nominated Creative Director and Boxing is Love fellow, Yasir Masood
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- Nov 27, 2025
- 6 min read
Yasir Masood is the creative mastermind behind our latest short film: 'Boxing is Love: HOMEGROWN'. The film tells the story of M'Baye Kante as he trains in Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympic Games. Through his training journey, he reflects on how boxing has shaped his outlook on life and how he finds his place in the world through his creative practice as a professional Senegalese drummer and teaching youth groups in South LA about traditional West African drumming practices. Boxing helped him connect to his community and the culture he once thought he was missing.
on 26 November 2025, our CEO Spencer Lee Boya sat down with Yasir to learn more about his artistic practices and personal inspirations.
1. Can you tell us about your journey into filmmaking and what inspired you to become a producer and director?
From a young age I just felt like there was such a discrepancy in humanity that I saw in my culture, faith, and community compared to what traditional media was displaying. I always looked up to revolutionaries in American history, like Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, etc. who not only brought that dignity back to their communities but did it in a way that celebrated their own people's lives. I wanted to do what little I could to serve that purpose. For me it was making art that reflects how I see my community, which was mostly an intersection of all types of working class people and immigrants. I decided I rather create work that reflects what I see rather than have other people do that for us in the media. I took a huge leap of faith in service to that purpose and moved across the country to NYC. I feverishly made as much art as I could. Made a tremendous amount of mistakes, but learned every single project. Until people started to notice. I had no connections to the industry. Being a filmmaker where I'm from was quite unheard of. But belief and effort carried me, because if you live life for a purpose there's no true failure.
2. How did Boxing, your background and personal experiences influence the themes of masculinity, migration, and identity in your films?
I grew up in Southwest Houston, TX, an immigrant enclave. Growing up, fighting was a point of pride. I guess because everybody was fighting to build a life for themselves in America. Boxing helped me channel that kinetic energy that I grew up around. To be able to control movement within myself. There's power in fighting and we should celebrate our strength. But it means nothing if it's not controlled. That's what boxing is to me, staying supremely present, reacting to what is in front of you, and moving with purpose, rather in a way that's destructive to yourself. As immigrants we have movement and a yearning for home in our bones. It's our responsibility to channel that in productive ways whether it's sports, filmmaking, or whatever purpose you take on. To make your newfound home a better place.
3. What drew you to the subject of boxing for HOMEGROWN? Was there a personal connection or a particular story you wanted to tell?
We made HOMEGROWN in a time of my life where I had just taken a huge leap of faith. I left my dream job as a producer at a studio in LA, a job I worked my whole life to get. It was in pursuit of writing my 2nd feature film. During that process it felt like boxing was all I had. It gave structure to my life, discipline to sit down and stare at a new page every day, and calmed my mind down when there was a lot of noise, doubt and uncertainty for if I had made the right decision or not. Like the film, it gave me the fuel to fight for my dreams every day and the structure to manifest them. I was just so reignited by all the mental benefits boxing was giving to me that I had to channel and express that. That's when I suddenly came across M'Baye, a now lifelong friend going through a similar journey. With boxing providing him answers to the same questions I had, about life, purpose, and the cultures we come from. It gave me the faith to keep going. Now that film is being set up to be produced at another studio. I was able to get my dream job back. Boxing helped me steer the course for hard times and made me more in tune with where I come from. That's what Homegrown is all about.
4. Boxing has a rich cultural history and diverse communities connected to it — how does your film reflect or engage with these cultural aspects?
The film is titled HOMEGROWN because we're on a journey of someone that initially feels like they're lost. Wandering so far from both they're ancestral home and where they grew up. Ultimately realizing that home is the community and mindset that they make for themselves. Boxing in a lot of ways provides that community for people all across the world. You can't box without teammates, a full gym becomes a temple. Although we come from many different places, we all meet in one place fighting the same battles and believing in the same virtues. That quells the feeling of being lost. It redefines home. While our character yearns for his roots in Senegal, he finds them within. They were there the whole time and he carries it forward into a new world by the way he moves, thinks, and drums. He brings his culture to a new world.
5. What role does boxing play in the lives of the characters you portray, and how does it influence their personal journeys?
Boxing is such a great motif for characterizing someone in a story. Off the rip you understand that this person works hard, is disciplined, values structure and competition. For a character looking to better themselves and is ambitious, and is going on a hero's journey that reflects those things, Boxing is the perfect background for them.
6. Did telling a boxing story shape your filmmaking style or technical choices, such as camera work, editing, or sound design?
Absolutely! For this piece we focused on capturing the kinetic energy, speed, and surprise of a sparring session. We put a camera directly in the ring and tried to dance with our subjects the best we could. Directing our camera where to be to follow the movements of boxing. Low angles and points of impact for exchanges. That lended into our editing philosophy. If we did it right, the film should feel like a good sparring round. Bursts of exchanges and hard work and then moments where we breath deep and rest, taking in the round and meditating on possible changes you need to make.
7. How do you hope audiences will connect with the boxing story and the emotions it evokes?
For anyone that's yearning for a sense of home and grounding, to realize that those things exist within ourselves and how we choose to spend our time. For anyone that is going through a challenging moment in life, to encourage themselves to take a breath and step back from all the noise whether its internal and external. Try to find a semblance of peace, and then use that as fuel for taking on whatever they're looking to accomplish. For me boxing does those things in a very immediate way, but it could be any creative or physical act. We're not all professional fighters, but different disciplines give us ways to give us the mental and spiritual fuel to keep going with our purpose.
8. What does Boxing is Love as a phrase mean to you?
Boxing is self love. Doing something day in and day out that betters yourself, physically, spiritually and mentally. Self-growth to me is one of the highest forms of love. Boxing is also a universal language. Every culture in the world understands the notion of fighting for what you believe in. Whether or not we understand each other's language, we communicate with each other in the gym, understand what's safe for one another, or help out with advice between sparring rounds or general life advice. We understand what we're individually made of, how we respond to tough situations. And grow together. It's how we share our humanity. Boxing is everything.
About Yasir: Yasir Masood is a Pakistan-born, Emmy-nominated producer and filmmaker. Yasir won the Emerging Filmmaker Award at the Los Angeles Asian American Film Festival for his debut feature film, ISTIKHARA, NEW YORK. Shot in Brooklyn and self-financed for a budget of $15,000, the film was picked up for finishing and distribution by Nicholas Weinstock’s Invention Studios (THELMA). Yasir then produced the film, OUT OF ORDER starring Kareem Rahma of SUBWAY TAKES, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and made its debut on VICE. Yasir directed episodes for the Webby nominated nonfiction series PICTURE LOCKED & IN MY OWN WORDS streaming on DOCUMENTARY+. Son of an air conditioning repair man, Yasir’s work aims to explore the intersectionality of masculinity, migration, and identity in Muslim and working class communities.
Full Credit List of 'Boxing is Love: HOMEGROWN'
Director:@maxcontractyasir
Director of Photography:@ryanramsey
Editor: Kyle Joseph Vaughan
Colorist:@ryanramsey
Sound:@will_eye_yam
Written by:
Yasir Masood
M’baye Kante
Lighting Department:
Gaffer:@wesalley
Starring:
Produced by:
Filo Franchina
Joey Gonzalez
Executive Producer:
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