Private Project

Perfect One

In a future where robots are widely adopted, a musical "perfect robot" identical to a female robotics engineer is successfully developed. The engineer, who does not believe in love but yearns for it, decides to use the robot to balance her career and family. However, her musician husband develops a strong creative resonance with the robot, forcing the engineer to confront the true reason behind creating the "perfect robot"—her closeted father. Growing up in a sham marriage family, she harbors resentment and pity toward her father. She does not believe in love, nor does she trust marriage. The "perfect robot" is her obsession—she hopes to give her husband a complete family and help her father find peace.

  • Lingyan Yang
    Director
  • Lingyan Yang
    Writer
  • Lingyan Yang
    Producer
  • Lingyan Yang
    Key Cast
    "LiAi/Aili"
  • Mengshi Jiang
    Key Cast
    "HaoFan"
  • Mingxiang Guo
    Key Cast
    "LiAi‘s father"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    完美的Ta
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 53 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 18, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    62,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • ShorTS - International Film Festival / Maremetraggio
    Trieste
    Italy
    June 28, 2025
    Official Selection
  • Indie Short Fest
    Los Angeles
    OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR SCI-FI SHORT and BEST SHORT OF THE SEASON-RUNNER-UP（SPECIAL JURY MENTION）
  • Best Shorts Competition
    Los Angeles
    Women Filmmakers in Award of Merit March 2025
  • Austin Lift-Off Film Festival
    Austin, Texas
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Lingyan Yang

Lingyan Yang was born on May 18, 1990. She studied at the Berklee College of Music in the United States and was once a musician. Her original songs were recognized by the China Performance Industry Association and were included in the Ministry of Culture’s Cultural Industry Entrepreneurship Talent Database. She is also a musical theater performer and has appeared in the Chinese adaptations of Broadway productions such as The Sound of Music and Man of La Mancha.

During her acting career, she began to explore theatrical creation, as well as the connections between human nature, Buddhism, Taoism, and Tarot. When the pandemic struck and theater performances were severely impacted, she found an opportunity to pause and focus on pursuing what she truly loved. She then began to self-study film direction, production, and other related areas. Addressing the trending question of “Will Artificial Intelligence replace humans?”, she combined her musical theater expertise with science fiction and musical genres to create a story about “breaking the cycle of familial karma.”

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I was once a musical theater performer, but the outbreak of the pandemic closed theaters and left me unemployed. At the same time, as someone from Hubei province, the discrimination I experienced shattered my previous understanding of the world in an instant. The external glories and splendor I once relied on proved fragile and powerless at that moment. Always seeking external validation, I lost my direction and began to explore inwardly. During the creative process, I discovered certain limiting beliefs within myself. I realized that as long as I let go of dualistic judgment, all imperfections carry hidden perfection behind them. Therefore, I hope more people can taste this "magic potion," open a new perspective on how they see the world, and achieve a sense of liberation in some way.

The story uses the externalization of a robot substituting the protagonist to confront issues of marriage and her family of origin. It explores the idea that “our relationships with others are reflections of our relationships with ourselves.” Everyone around us is a mirror, reflecting our own beauty as well as our inner deficiencies. At the same time, the story incorporates the wisdom of Buddhism, Taoism, and Tarot to further present the relationship between humans and the universe—“The heart is the universe.”

The film gradually reveals the story of a self-conscious yet strong-willed woman who grew up in a sham marriage family with a closeted homosexual father. In the end, by letting go of her judgment of her father’s sexuality, she finds redemption for her own soul.

In terms of visual and auditory language, the film integrates music and dance to present abstract wisdom, such as:“All things arise from consciousness, and all things return to consciousness.”and "All appearances are illusions; to see beyond appearances is to see the truth."