Zhang Mengtai

Exploring the potential of VR as a tool for transplanting secondhand memories, ‘Diagnosia’ aims to connect the audience to social issues via a sensorial immersion and embodiment in the memories of people who experienced them firsthand. “Diagnosia” portrays Mengtai’s memories of being incarcerated in a military-operated Internet addiction camp in Beijing in 2007, where internet addiction and other youth issues were treated as a severe mental disorder with sometimes violent means. It also raises questions about the extensive research publications that have come out of this institution, and how they entangle with the scientific literature of “internet addiction” on a global scale. By tracing the personal memory and the discourse of “Internet addiction” within China’s cultural context, the work discusses how societies can create or manifest pathologies as a tool for social control.

The development of Diagnosia was supported by IDFA DocLab, Waves Farm, and La Fonte. It premiered at IDFA and Sundance, and received the Best VR Documentary at the 2023 Cinequest, the Best Chinese Work at the 2022 Sandbox Immersive Festival, and the Honorary Mention at the 2022 ifva VR Special Prize and the 2022 MA/IN Festival.

A Fluffy Cactus Production

Narration
Mengtai Zhang, Lemon Guo, Li Yuxi, Baohe Xue, Gang Xu, Sanshi Song, Wenfei Sun

Interactive Sound Advisor
Brad Garton

Special Thanks
Zheng Yihao, Tang Yi, Chaesong Kim, Peng Zuqiang, Eris Qian

General Inquiry
diagnosiavr@gmail.com

Publicist
Adam J. Segal, The 2050 Group (Sundance)
Yun-hua Chen, NOISE Film PR (IDFA)

Diagnosia is part of the IDFA DocLab R&D program 2021 in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Diagnosia is made possible, in part, with funds from the Media Arts Assistance Fund, a regrant partnership of NYSCA and Wave Farm, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Diagnosia is supported by La Fonte.