12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising Ceremony
升旗手
QU Zhizheng
17 minutes | 2025 | Fiction | Mandarin | English Subtitles
North American Premiere
The 78th Festival du Cannes –– La Cinef, Second Prize
Content Advisory: This film contains scenes of violence
8:00 PM, MON, AUG 11
Innis Town Hall
Screening + Live Zoom Q&A
Beijing’s winter is unkind. FENG Xiao doesn’t want to be the flag bearer, and no one cares to know why.
The short film 12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising Ceremony by QU Zhizheng employs a cold, minimal, and restrained visual language to unravel a portrait of middle school student Feng Xiao’s inner world, captured through twelve particular moments before the flag-raising ceremony.
The ceremony is not only a reenactment of social order but also a space where individual identity and collective memory are constructed. As a ‘ritual apparatus,’ the flag raiser embodies collective will while revealing the vulnerability and tension inherent in an individual under scrutiny. Through a highly mature and precise cinematic language, the director deftly captures nuanced emotional undercurrents, crafting an introspective space that explores themes of obedience and self-awareness.
This work combines aesthetic texture with depth of thought, offering a powerful inquiry into how institutions shape the individual.
– LIU Zhou’anqi
Director
QU Zhizheng (b. 2001 in Beijing) holds a BFA in Cinematography from Beijing Film Academy, where he is currently pursuing an MFA degree. His graduation film 12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising Ceremony was selected for the La Cinef section of the 78th Cannes and won the Second Prize. He is now developing a hybrid documentary short and a feature-length screenplay.
Credits
- Director: QU Zhizheng
- Principal Cast: YAN Junbo, LU Qiuyang, QU Xuezhi
- Producer: GONG Boxin
- Screenplay: QU Zhizheng
- Cinematographer: CAO Liuming
- Production Designer: LIU Yutong
- Costume Designer: HAN Yutong
- Editor: QU Zhizheng
- Sound: SUI Yue