Pleasure-Seeking will screen at the 29th Annual Dances With Films Festival on June 26th at 11:45 PM in Hollywood.
By Juan Markos
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 06/23/2026 – Pleasure-Seeking is a short film written and directed by Michaela Holmes. It explores themes of loneliness, the lack of human connection, and the lengths people go to fill the void. The film centers around Sasha, played by Charlotte Friels, and how she copes with her loneliness. I can relate to her behavior, particularly her compulsive online shopping.
Throughout the film, we see Sasha indulging in online shopping while also contacting people on dating sites. She spends her time taking and sharing selfies with men online, which seems to dominate her life. It’s unclear whether she has a job; all I know is that she fills her days with shopping and chatting with strangers.
One day, she receives a knock on her door from her neighbor, who informs her that some of her packages were mistakenly delivered to his address. After receiving the packages, we see her store them away in a closet that quickly becomes overflowing. As a compulsive shopper myself, I find it anxiety inducing that she just puts the packages away without ever opening them.
The following day, Sasha is back in her routine of online shopping and chatting with men. Her neighbor, Tommy, played by Will McNeill, comes by once again with another package that was delivered to him. He seems genuinely interested in her, but she lacks the social skills to respond to his advances. Is she chatting with him online?
Despite having a potential connection with her neighbor, Sasha returns to her cycle of pleasure-seeking, which ultimately becomes her addiction. She spends hours online shopping but never opens her packages. As her neighbor becomes more persistent, we notice that Sasha’s eyes begin to bleed, which makes me curious about what this symbolizes.
Pleasure-Seeking reveals the intimate lives behind closed doors, highlighting fragile human emotions and the pursuit of unfulfilling pleasures.
Pleasure-Seeking will screen at the 29th Annual Dances With Films Festival on June 26th at 11:45 PM in Hollywood. For tickets and further details, be sure to visit: https://danceswithfilms.com/2026-pleasure-seeking/
