Side Hustle
New/Next '23 + '24
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Drama, Short Films, 17-Jul-2025
A young dancer tries to make rent while relying on the financial support of her sugar daddy. Through candid storytelling and docu-fictional modes, Abby Harri’s “Side Hustle” observes the intimacy in the life of a sex worker with a client. Eden, a contemporary dancer, starts her morning making videos where she listens to music and journals with face filters. As Sun Ra plays, the young woman gets ready for an evening outing with her client, a middle-aged man who owns a bar. There, the two share kisses, hold candid conversation, and make a move back to his place. Financial anxieties and the blurred lines of their intimacy weighs, and Eden quietly address it in their pillow talk. Cradling its central characters with a raw focus, the film also includes testimonies from other sugar babies and sex workers beyond the main action. -JM. Writer/Director: Abby Harri. Cast: Eden Martinovsky, Sean Edward Lewis. DP: Shannon Palmer. Editor: Max Bowens. Producer: Maggie Ambrose, Abby Harri. Executive Producer: Jane Schoenbrun. Co-Producers: Michelle Peralta, Mackenzie Berkman. Production Designer: Eli Kleinsmith.
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