Ciao UFO

European Premiere | Special Screenings | Out Of Competition

Hong Kong, 2019/2026, 122’, Cantonese

Directed by: Patrick Leung
Screenplay: Kong Ho-yan, Amy Chin
Cinematography (color): Leung Ming-kai
Editing: Derek Hui, Joe Zhou, To To
Production Design: Miu Chan
Music: Tsui Chin-hung
Producer: Amy Chin
Cast: Chui Tien-you (Kin), Wong You-nam (Heem), Charlene Choi (Hoyi), Michelle Wai (Yan), Lo Hoi-pang (Heem’s grandfather), Stephen Au (Heem’s father), Ng Siu-hin (Hoyi’s brother), Alex Cheung (Hoyi’s father), Alex To (Kin’s father), JJ Jia (Kin’s mother), Joey Leung (Austin), Rachel Leung (Cat), Michael Ning (Hoyi’s uncle)

Date of First Release in Territory: October 29th, 2019 (festival); March 19th, 2026 (theatrical)

It is ironic that a film featuring a real-life urban legend would become an urban legend itself, but that is exactly what happened to Ciao UFO. After its world premiere at a local film festival in late 2019, the ensemble drama was left waiting for a theatrical release for six years due to a disagreement between an investor and producer Amy Chin over release strategy. Now that the investor’s ownership has expired, Chin can finally release the film for a wider audience.

While some films fail to stand the test of time, Ciao UFO has miraculously aged like fine wine, largely because its themes of disillusionment and regrets now resonate with its home audience more than ever. With a script co-written by novelist Kong Ho-yan (better known as Pizza, who wrote the novel that Fruit Chan adapted into The Midnight After) and Chin, and confident direction by Patrick Leung, the film follows three estranged childhood friends navigating adult life in 1990s Hong Kong, a decade that saw the city at both its best and its worst. For Kin (Chui Tien-you), it is a time to toil away at multiple jobs in order to save up for emigration, until he is tempted to make a quick buck from the rising stock market; for Hoyi (Charlene Choi), it is a time to put away childish dreams and settle into a safe but humdrum life as an accountant; for Heem (Wong You-nam), after spending most of his childhood receiving leukemia treatment, it is a time to enjoy a carefree life – much to the chagrin of his money-hungry girlfriend (Rachel Leung).

The three protagonists – who spend most of the film apart – are united by a single childhood memory: Witnessing a flying saucer atop their building in the Wah Fu public estate (a plot turn based on a real urban legend from the late 1970s and early 1980s). The film treats the UFO element as real to some degree, but it’s not hard to see that it is also an allegory for lofty childhood dreams that we carry until adulthood forces us to put them aside. As the three protagonists experience one disappointment after another in their adult lives – whether it’s financial ruin, unrequited love or the death of beloved family members – their minds return to that one fateful moment and wonder how they would tell their young selves that only angst and defeat await them in their future.

The film’s pessimistic message isn’t exactly ideal material for a commercial film, but it definitely resonates with a city that has lived through political turmoil, a global pandemic, an emigration wave and a stagnating economy in only a few short years. Even younger audience members who didn’t live through the ups and downs of 1990s Hong Kong can relate to the film’s portrayal of Hong Kong as a city where dreams are destroyed by pragmatism and ultra-capitalism (further hammered home in a coda set on a very specific date in 2003). Then again, maybe the fact that a character-driven drama like Ciao UFO can still be financed and made in Hong Kong means that the city isn’t always so pragmatic after all.

Patrick Leung

Patrick Leung worked as an assistant director for John Woo on films such as The Killer (1989), Once a Thief (1991) and Hard Boiled (1992). With Woo’s support, he made his solo directorial debut with boxing drama Somebody Up There Likes Me, which also launched a long-time filmmaking partnership with screenwriter Chan Hing-kai. Leung’s work received a retrospective in the 4th Udine Far East Film Festival, and with Ciao UFO he earned his first Hong Kong Film Award nomination for Best Director.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY

1996 – Somebody Up There Likes Me 