The honor guard in China holds deep symbolic, ceremonial, and political significance. It serves as a visual representation of state authority, military discipline, and national pride, playing a key role in both domestic ceremonies and international diplomacy. Many middle and high schools have their own student honor guards responsible for raising the national flag during weekly or daily ceremonies. At the start of high school and university, students undergo a mandatory military training period, often lasting one to two weeks. Activities include marching drills, basic physical training, and uniformed discipline similar to military or honor guard protocols. Select students may be chosen for ceremonial roles in larger city or district-level events, including the honor guard.
Zhizheng Qu, in his debut short, uses this particular concept as the basis of his story, focusing on a student in Beijing who is chosen to be the flag-bearer after being recognized as the best trainee during military training.
12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising Ceremony is screening at Cannes
The story begins with a group of students training for a flag-raising ceremony under the tense direction of their instructor. The camera focuses on the back of the flag-bearer, Feng Xiao. When an about-face order is given, we finally see his face; his expression unreadable, though clearly not happy. In the next scene, dressed in regular clothes and visibly stressed, he tells his teacher, Zhang, that he does not want to participate in the honor guard because his father is in the hospital. The teacher, however, shows no sympathy and actually disputes his claim.
Later, he returns home and while a news report about Taiwanese forces conducting exercises on the West Beach of Changhua County, one of Taiwan’s red beaches, is playing on the TV. Seemingly alone in the house, he uses his phone to type messages and have them read aloud by a program, perhaps as a way to cope with his isolation. The next day, Feng Xiao and Zhang are interviewed for TV. While the teacher speaks with pride and enthusiasm about the ceremony, Feng Xiao appears nervous and uncomfortable, eventually revealing that the interview was entirely staged. Tensions only rise from there.
Zhizheng Qu crafts a layered narrative in just 16 minutes, with each scene carrying purpose, eventually coalescing into a powerful critique of systemic pressure. The generational gap between student and teacher becomes increasingly apparent, but the central theme revolves around how institutional pressure, with the school and its teachers as its agents, pushes children to their breaking points while disregarding their emotional needs. The interview scene reveals the performative nature of the system, which demands unwavering conformity and suppresses individuality.
Feng Xiao’s inability to find empathy from anyone around him, including his emotionally distant parents, as his mother’s absence is particularly striking, makes the critique even sharper. The final scenes portray the consequences of this suffocating environment, with his behavior turning erratic, a natural response to the emotional strain he endures.
This sense of suffocation is mirrored in the visual language, with cinematographer Cao Liuming employing a desaturated palette, shadows, and low lighting to reflect the protagonist’s psychological state. Ou’s own editing creates a brisk rhythm that maintains tension and avoids unnecessary exposition, with the 12 moments in the title corresponding directly to what unfolds onscreen.
Yan Junbo is outstanding as Feng Xiao, conveying discomfort and eventual despair with subtle, minimal gestures. This approach actually makes the only scene he lashes out even more impactful. Lu Qiuyang is equally convincing as Mrs. Zhang, exuding cold authority and occasional disdain, while her performative shift during the interview is particularly compelling.
“12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising Ceremony” is an exceptional short, intelligently conceived, precisely executed, and powerfully acted. Its inclusion at Cannes is more than deserved.
