“Sugar”. Work on covert prostitution wins Arouca Film Festival

Segundo reveals to Lusa the direction of this event of the district of Aveiro and Metropolitan Area of Porto, the 12 minute drama stood out among the 36 'shorts' in competition and thus won the award of best film for the work written and directed by Carlos Gómez-Trigo and Pablo Arreba.

“ The film denounces the disturbing phenomenon of ‘Sugar Daddy’”, reveals João Rita, director of the Arouca Film Festival, in reference to the English expression with which young women identify older men with whom they engage sexually or romantically to benefit from their financial resources.

The trend also applies to homosexual couples, but the film shown in Arouca resorts to the story of the involvement of a 20-year-old girl with a 45-year-old man to portray “a form of covert prostitution that has gained popularity among new generations through social networks and dating applications.”.

The film that ranked second in the festival, started on the 9th and ending this Saturday, was the ‘short’ of 17 minutes “Lighthouse”, which also won the award for best argument.

“ This German-Iranian production, directed by Sahar Nouh, was inspired by the protests led by women in Iran,” says João Rita, “and is a visual and musically powerful drama that resembles poetry — evolving from a deeply personal destiny to a universal story about female resistance and the power of healing.”.

In the category of feature films, disputed by four works, it was the “Guardian of the Field” a total of five wins: Best Long Film, Best Performance, Best Argument, Best Representation and Best Sound.

This Iranian film is directed by Mohammad Reza Kheradmandan and, in 103 minutes, explores “deep concepts such as social trust, the sense of community responsibility and the conflict between family duties and obligations to others”.

Returning to the ‘shorts’, the distinction for Best Fiction was attributed to “Afrat”, Iranian director Siavash Vazini, who in six minutes evokes Kurdish women in a perspective that combines visual memory, identity and cultural representation.

The Best Animation Award was for “Every day that passes”, Portuguese filmmaker Emanuel Nevado. “It’s an 11-minute film depicting loneliness, routine and the desire to rediscover happiness in old age,” says João Rita.

As for Best Accomplishment and Best Editing, both distinctions were short Spanish “La hora escrita”, in which director Coke Arijo explores in 12 minutes “one of the most devastating episodes of the Civil War” of his country.

Other short films were: Better Performance and Better Sound for “Como las cucarachas en Verano”, by Sergio Enrique Porras Ascanio and Alexandra Vivas Guittard; Best Representation for “Amarraditos”, starring Rosario Pardo and Rafa Nuñez, under the direction of Arturo Monbiedro Lozano; and Public Award for “Sophie’s Bakes”, by Hugo Coelho.

At the level of Photography, the winner was Vadim Poteev for his work in the 150-minute drama “Black Forest”, performed by Russian Radik Kudoyarov.

“ The film addresses the devastating impact of the Allied bombing on the German forest in 1944, revealing the human tragedy and moral dilemmas faced by soldiers and civilians caught in the chaos of war,” explains João Rita.