In acclaimed Hong Kong film Ciao UFO, three friends ponder lost dreams

Singapore Film Society Special Showcase: Ciao UFO

In May, the Singapore Film Society (SFS) will hold screenings on the theme Her Presence: Stories Of Resilience, featuring movies from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan that celebrate the strength and resilience of women.

Among the three films is the Hong Kong coming-of-age dramedy Ciao UFO (2026, NC16, 122 minutes, in Cantonese and English with Chinese and English subtitles), a five-time winner at the 2026 Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Director for Patrick Leung and Best Screenplay for Amy Chin and Kong Ho-Yan.

In 1985, in a public housing project for lower-income residents, three teenagers, friends since childhood, are stunned to see an unidentified flying object.

The film follows the friends, played as adults by Tsui Tien You, Charlene Choi and Wong You Nam, over a few decades, as events like the 1997 Asian financial crisis and 2003 SARS epidemic pull their lives in different directions.

In 2005 – the film’s present day – the three reckon with disappointment and regret, and how they have fallen short of their childhood dreams.

A reviewer in the Hong Kong daily newspaper the South China Morning Post writes that the film is “an effective piece of storytelling, resonating both as a character drama and an elegy for a vanished golden age that exists only in Hong Kong’s collective memory”.

Where: GV Plaza Singapura, 07-01 Plaza Singapura, 68 Orchard Road
MRT: Dhoby Ghaut
When: May 15 to 24, various timings
Admission: $18 (public), $16 (GV Movie Club and SFS members); tickets go on sale from May 8, at www.gv.com.sg
Info: singaporefilmsociety.com

Widow’s Bay (NC16)

Streaming on Apple TV

The horror-comedy genre has found confident footing on the small screen with this work from series creator Katie Dippold, a writing veteran whose credits include the sitcom Parks And Recreation (2009 to 2015) and the buddy cop comedy The Heat (2013).

The show is directed by Hiro Murai, who helmed episodes of HBO’s Emmy-nominated post-apocalyptic drama Station Eleven (2021 to 2022).

The set-up is a nod to horror master Stephen King, hinting at the show’s parodic flavour: a small New England island is bound by a centuries-old curse that prevents anyone born there from leaving.

Widow’s Bay mayor Tom Loftis (Welsh actor Matthew Rhys; spy drama The Americans, 2013 to 2018) was not born in the town and is sceptical of the curse, so he busies himself with attracting tourists.

Rhys is supported by acclaimed American character actor Stephen Root, who plays Wyck, a native of Widow’s Bay and a “truther” – he sees the town as a place blighted by the supernatural.

The series holds a 96 per cent rating on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes from 45 reviews, though some critics note that the slower pacing of the early episodes will reward those with patience.

The British daily The Guardian notes that the first season’s 10-episode run is “a comedy, somewhere between workplace and family. Tom must deal with assorted local eccentrics, plus the incompetents who form his mayoral team. They are not there for colour: They are full-blooded characters. They have their troubles and their joys, as well as their oddities and idiosyncrasies”.

Late Shift (NC16)

88 minutes, screens on May 14

The critically acclaimed American hospital emergency-room drama The Pitt (2026 to present) covers a team of medical professionals whose superhuman skills and grit cover the cracks in a broken healthcare system. The Swiss drama Late Shift says that sometimes, bad systems overwhelm good people.

Over the course of a hectic overnight shift of the title, a nurse is asked to be “a servant, trainer, friend, singer and confidante” and finds, to her horror, that she is all too fallible, according to a review in entertainment magazine Variety.

Floria (German actress Leonie Benesch) is a nurse at a chronically understaffed hospital in Switzerland, a problem common everywhere. By 2030, according to the World Health Organization, there will be an estimated shortage of 13 million nurses globally.

Swiss film-maker Petra Volpe’s drama says relying on the sacrifices of a few burning themselves out for the many is unsustainable, as shown when Floria makes a costly mistake.

The film was selected as Switzerland’s entry to the 2026 Academy Awards in the Best International Feature category, making the December shortlist. It is presented here by the Embassy of Switzerland in Singapore as part of the European Film Festival 2026.

Entertainment industry trade publication Screen Daily says that the film is “equal parts harrowing and unsentimental in its evocation of the brutal grind of hospital work”, while entertainment magazine Variety says that viewers “will wonder at what point Floria’s brittle efficiency is going to snap”.

Where: Filmhouse, Level 5 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road
MRT: Nicoll Highway
When: May 14, 8pm
Admission: $16.50, with concessions available for students, seniors and full-time national servicemen
Info: filmhouse.sg/film/66/late-shift