*This is one of the featured films from the 2021 Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Festival. If you or someone you know is experiencing an eating disorder, please seek help. You can call, chat, or text with trained counselors at the National Eating Disorders Helpline by clicking here.

Delusions is a short narrative experimental film based on my own experience with Anorexia Nervosa. The film non conventionally shows the daily routine of someone with an eating disorder and switches between the real world and their suffocating thoughts.

To be completely honest, I never saw myself making this film until my high school film teacher assigned my class the narrative experimental unit. We were prompted to create a short film that non conventionally told a personal story or explained a problem we have faced. After countless hours of brainstorming, I finally built up the courage to talk about something I never thought I would openly share, my experience with Anorexia Nervosa. I’ve previously watched other eating disorder films and was inspired to make my own based on my own experience.

I hope that my audience will understand more about the mentality of someone who has an eating disorder as it’s different compared to the media’s portrayal. Although eating disorders tend to get glamorized on Instagram and Tumblr, it’s still a serious issue that impacts people of all ages and genders. Additionally, I wanted to provide support for those who have dealt with these types of challenges. Eating disorders are difficult to understand, even for the people experiencing them, and I’ve definitely felt alone because of it. For the people struggling currently, it’s important to note that there’s still light at the end of the tunnel.

It’s important to talk about mental health because it opens up discussions to bring awareness to serious issues. Talking about the challenges we face makes us not feel alone and encourages us to dig up the things we’ve buried inside. We luckily live in a generation that understands and accepts mental illness, but the way we got there was from being open and honest. During my childhood, I was surrounded by my immigrant parents who didn’t really understand anxiety or even the importance of mental health. My only option was to talk to my friends and teachers which helped me understand the anxiety I was feeling.