The short film, entitled Puño y metal [Fist and metal] won the SGAE New Film-making prize for the Best Directing-Production at this year's Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. The film was directed by Victor Alonso Berbel, a fourth-year Audiovisual Communication student at UPF, and is the result of over six months of work invested in the Documentary Directing subject.

"Chatarras Palace", the setting for the film, is an underground gym where a group of young men get together to channel their tension by free boxing. Puño y metal is a portrait over several months of two of the young men who go there often - they are unemployed and not engaged in education, and also have difficult family situations.

Two of the key aspects taken into account by the jury were the connection between the story and reality, and the fact that the film creates the feeling of wanting to find out more about the characters. This is one of the most highly valued assessments by the young director, who is happy because "the audience felt close to the figures of these two guys from a marginal world."

The SGAE New Film-making prizes have been awarded at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival for the last fourteen years, and aim to discover, promote and publicize the work of young film-makers. This year's prize, which was awarded on 4 October, was entered by over 36 films produced by fourteen Catalan film schools.

Víctor Alonso is aware of the difficulties faced by young people in terms of gaining access to festivals, and especially to full-length films. That is why he believes that "prizes like this one are a great opportunity for students like me," and he acknowledges that "the fact that the prizes are called New Film-making means that you still have a lot to learn".