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
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