Luozhuozi Jing

"Urban Anxiety Syndrome"

Section MS18, Ayanna Blair-Ford

Keywords: anxiety, urbanisation

This project looks at urban anxiety as something created by city life, not as a personal psychological problem. In fast and crowded cities, pressure around time, productivity, and routine builds up quietly. Anxiety becomes a constant background condition rather than a clear or dramatic moment.

The film focuses on how the body responds to this pressure. Binge eating is shown not as a personal failure, but as a physical response to ongoing stress and loss of control. The project avoids explanation, confession, or storytelling. Instead, it observes everyday actions and repeated routines shaped by the city.

The film uses simple rules, including static camera positions, repetition, long takes, and layered urban sound. Spaces such as bedroom,metre, and waiting commercial office buildings play an important role. Eating is shown indirectly, as part of a wider rhythm of pressure and repetition. The film does not offer a solution, but holds the condition in place, allowing the viewer to experience how anxiety and bodily response are produced by the city.