The Clean
Director：Yang Lu
Screenwriter：Yang Lu
Cast：Wenxin Zhao, Xiaodi Hang
Producer：Joey Wang
Cinematographer：Chunbo Wang
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Language：Mandarin Chinese
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SYNOPSIS
As summer approaches, Chen Li and his close friend Jiang Zhou begin daily swimming practice after school, preparing for a trip to the riverside they have long planned together. Their bond is deep and inseparable, yet their growing closeness soon draws suspicion within the school. When an anonymous “love letter” appears on the public bulletin board, their relationship is thrust into the spotlight. What began as a private connection becomes the subject of rumor, scrutiny, and public judgment. As the incident escalates into a campus-wide spectacle, the boys are caught between silence and shame. For the first time, they are forced to confront the quiet fracture between self and society—a moment where innocence ends, and the inevitability of growing up begins.
Director Biography
Director, Screenwriter, and Cinematographer. A graduate of the Directing Program at Beijing Film Academy, he honed his craft through previous roles in television and print media. His unique strength lies in merging a journalist’s insight with a compelling visual narrative, backed by extensive experience in documentary and promotional filmmaking.
Director's Statement
This is a short film about coming of age—and an exercise in the social gaze of judgment and discipline. As adolescent bodies and emotions awaken, they are met with the inspecting eyes of the adult world—its norms and gendered expectations. An intimacy that once felt natural is abruptly labeled, interpreted, and put on trial. A childhood companion suddenly becomes “out of place” under society’s lens. I seek to capture the quiet moment of this transformation—when an individual, unprepared, is first compelled to feel the shame of exposure, and to sense the rift between self and world. Growing up is not always a journey of self-discovery; it is often an occurrence of being named, scripted, and misunderstood by the social order. This subtle yet irreversible rupture is the genesis of my film.
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