SIDE HUSTLE / Short Film

Director: Abby Harri

Producers: Maggie Ambrose, Abby Harri

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Watch now on Short of the Week

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Interweaving fiction with documentary testimony of sugar babies and sex workers, Side Hustle follows a young dancer making rent with the financial support of her sugar daddy.

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CRITICAL PRAISE for SIDE HUSTLE

"[Side Hustle] is not only a showcase for Harri’s incredible eye for talent—lead Eden Martinovsky, a dancer, has a natural magnetism—it’s also a nuanced look at the identity-shifting and psychological strategies that go into sugar baby/daddy relationships. The most casual of overnight encounters between a sugar baby and her client (Sean Edward Lewis) opens up unexpected notes of both late-life melancholy (his) and economic anxiety (hers, as she realizes her client is experiencing financial troubles)."  — Scott Macaulay, Filmmaker Magazine

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"Harri cites her background in casting – where she’s collaborated with directors like Jane Schoenbrun and Savanah Leaf on their features – as a central influence on her directorial approach. It’s the performances, she explains, that she places at the heart of her work. “To me, it’s not about having some special theory or manifesto,” Harri says. “It’s about connecting with people on a human level, and figuring out what is helpful for them to hear to give their best.” Having frequently worked with first-time performers and non-actors in auditions, she’s developed a sensitivity to helping people feel safe enough to be vulnerable, coaxing out performances that are honest and emotionally resonant.

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That vulnerability is palpable in Side Hustle, where Harri gives space for both first-time actor Eden Martinovsky and co-star Sean Edward Lewis to deliver quietly powerful performances. Guided by curiosity, trust, and intuition, Harri’s filmmaking seeks to uncover “something honest about the world [she’s] exploring”—and Side Hustle succeeds in doing exactly that. Rather than leaning on dramatic peaks, the film finds strength in its subtlety, letting its grounded authenticity carry the emotional weight. The characters feel so lived-in, so believable, that they linger in your mind well after the film ends – and there’s something incredibly powerful in that." — Rob Munday, Short of the Week

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SCREENINGS AND ACCOLADES

-Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film

-Vimeo Staff Pick

-Short of the Week

-NoBudge

-Palm Springs ShortFest

-Metrograph: Highlights from 25 New Faces of Independent Film

-Museum of Modern Art (MoMA): The Future of Film is Female

-New/Next

-Rockaway Film Festival

-Outfest

-Nitehawk Shorts Fest

-PAM CUT Tomorrow Theater

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