In "Connected," filmmaker Luke Gilford depicts a frightening utopia.
Filmmaker Luke Gilford delves inside an individual’s pursuit of happiness amidst a disassociated world in his unnerving sci-fi short “Connected.” The 10-minute story stars [Flaunt cover star Pamela Anderson](http://archive.flaunt.com/s/people/pamela-anderson/img) as Jackie Bailey, an aging, mid-life crashing spin-class instructor who hypocritically preaches positivity and wellness but is struggling to feel a real connection to anything, anyone.
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“Change is your only option.” Bailey implores, wistfully mantric. “You're limitless.” But Bailey's cringe-worthy, empty mottos have since lost redemption. Her fitness-guru followers are dwindling. Juices, cannabis, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, self-improvement podcasts voiced by Jane Fonda, they all blend into meaningless noise. Whatever Bailey tries, nothing offers her the enlightenment she seeks.
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According to Gilford, Jackie grapples "with aging, self-perception, and transformation in a technologically optimized world." Here, Anderson's character lip-syncs “Return to Innocence” by Enigma better than most can sing it. But again, nirvana escapes her.
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Not even her trusted Prius satisfies her wanderlust desires...
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But then an employee of an oxygen therapy center, played by Dree Hemingway, convinces Bailey to accompany her to an extended wellness retreat, one promising to enhance her mind, body, and soul.
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In fictional Mind-Link Yoga it's all about "allowing oneself to connect in unison and flow all together as one."
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“What do you want to transform?” her tempting new friend wonders? “Everything," Bailey says. "I guess… I want to feel connected to anything...”
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Bailey is surprised when a type of “Wellness WiFi” is implanted in her mind, allowing anyone access to her data... and her deepest, darkest secrets.
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“Privacy holds us back. It’s better this way.” Gilford hearkens the most startlingly benign moments of Charlie Broker's _Black Mirror_.
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Now fully exposed through the inner webbings of the dome, Jackie is finally able to connect. Also, “the water in the irrigation system is completely organic and charged with positive ions.” That helps, given the suggestion of group suicide implied by Gilford's sinister conclusion. These are end times, man has been saying since the beginning of times. At least the green juice has gotten better.
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_Check out Gilford's film on [Motherboard](http://motherboard.vice.com/read/connected)_.
_Follow George Ghanem on Twitter ([@georgeghanem](https://twitter.com/georgeghanem)). He's a real screenwriter, who really lives in L.A._
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