Ciao UFO

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Set against the densely packed rooftops of 1980s Hong Kong, Ciao UFO unfolds in the lively corridors of Wah Fu Estate in Aberdeen, a place where childhood wonder and adult anxieties share the same narrow stairwells. The film introduces Kin, a boy whose imagination has been nourished by a father who navigates the seas and traces constellations for him; Heem, a bright but unwell friend fighting a quiet battle with his health; and Hoyi, a studious girl weighed down by her parents’ hopes for a respectable future. Together with Hoyi’s younger brother Ho-fung, the four share a stubborn, endearing dream — to one day build a homemade spacecraft called the “Wah Fu One” and journey skyward in search of aliens.

Director Patrick Leung bathes these opening chapters in a warm, nostalgic glow, capturing the rhythm of public housing life: cramped flats, humming fluorescent lights, the distant hush of the harbour, and the kind of friendships forged on staircases and rooftops. The tone is playful and gentle, a sci-fi comedy that wears its wonder lightly rather than with spectacle. Each child carries a private weight — illness, expectation, longing — yet their shared fantasies offer a place of escape, where the boundaries of Wah Fu Estate feel thrillingly porous and the sky above becomes a promise rather than a ceiling.

That promise crystallises one extraordinary evening when, from their rooftop perch, the friends glimpse something strange hovering among the clouds. Whether miracle, mass hallucination, or mystery, the sighting becomes a luminous anchor for their bond — a single shared memory that shapes who they are and who they might still become. The film leans into the aching beauty of such moments, the way one fleeting encounter with the unknown can echo through a lifetime, colouring ambitions, friendships, and the quiet decisions made in its long afterglow.