Originally published in Resonate Voices on 6 August 2026 (Source: Film Movement) Thirty-five years after walkouts nearly ruined its premiere, Hong Kong’s master of melodrama looks back on Ruan Lingyu, Maggie Cheung, and the film that almost got away. “After I made my first film in 1985, I always ask myself: ‘Stanley Kwan, why do you want to tell this story through film?’ I never think about the box office… [The crew and] I just make sure that we have the passion to make the f

Originally published in Resonate Voices on 12 June 2026 (Source: Central City Cinema) Tracy Choi brings Macau cinema to the international stage with Girlfriend, a tender portrait of female intimacy that continues her exploration of women's lives after Sisterhood (2016). Girlfriends is a semi-autobiographical feature by Macau-born director Tracy Choi. Its protagonist, Lok (Fish Liew), is likewise a queer filmmaker from Macau living in Hong Kong. In her mid-thirties, she finds

Originally published in View of the Arts on 23 May 2026 （Source: Hong Kong Film Critics Organisation) On Valentine’s Day, a bus explodes in the middle of Hong Kong. The bomb is planted by a gay couple who kill themselves along with most of the passengers, leaving behind charred bodies and severed limbs. This shocking scene opens We’re Nothing at All, a brutal yet compassionate film that gives voice to some of society’s most marginalised people. ★★★★★ Directed by Herman Yau,

Originally published in Resonate Voices on 10 May 2026 (Source: Central City Cinema) Directed by Patrick Leung, Ciao UFO is a poignant Hong Kong drama spanning the 1980s to the early 2000s. Based on the famous urban legend, the film centers on the Wah Fu Estate, one of Hong Kong’s most iconic public housing projects and a rumoured UFO sighting there. The story follows the lives of four childhood friends – Tsz-kin (Chui Tien-you), Ka-him (Wong You-nam), Hoi-yee (Charlene Choi

Originally published in Resonate Voices on 20 March 2026 (Source: Central City Cinema) “We may never undo our mistakes, but please don’t forget, we still have the ability to love.” At first glance, this line from Sunshine Women’s Choir may sound like a familiar moral refrain; yet, the film transforms it into something far more affecting. By centering the story on a prison choir, this often-overlooked message of compassion and forgiveness is rendered with genuine sincerity and

Originally published in The Indiependent on 20 March 2026 (Source: Lumière & Co) A group of women sit around a table, eat dishes destined for Hitler’s lips, and wait to see if anyone collapses. They’re testing whether the food has been poisoned as part of an assassination attempt. These young German women, recruited during the Second World War, are known as The Tasters . ★★★★☆ Directed and co-written by Silvio Soldini, The Tasters is a wartime drama film adapted from Rosella

Originally published in The Indiependent on 20 March 2026 ( Source: Lumière & Co ) The Tasters , directed by Italian director Silvio Soldini, is a gripping wartime drama that sheds light on one of the most obscure groups working inside Adolf Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair headquarters. They are the tasters, young women forced to sample the dictator’s meals to check whether they had been poisoned. Adapted from Rosella Postorino’s historical novel The Women at Hitler’s Table , inspired