Ephemera

🤩 Ephemera (浮浮游游), dir. Shan Jiang, 2026, USA/‌Singapore, 83 min., in Mandarin and English with full English subtitles
🌊 West Coast premiere
Monday, June 22, 2026, 6:00 PM, Vogue Theatre

Ephemera (浮浮游游)

Frameline blurb: If you’ve ever pined over a what-could-have-been relationship, this sapphic charmer is a must-watch masterclass in yearning. On one of her last nights in Shanghai, twentysomething Asher (Yvonne Shuyu Zhang) asks Tori (Shu-Yi), her dance teacher, to meet up for a meandering coffee date. As the pair wander the city streets, their casual connection deepens. But as their feelings grow, dawn nears — as does Asher’s flight back to Los Angeles.

With a slow-burn wistfulness, Ephemera revels in the beauty of a profound connection that, although fleeting, holds a life-changing weight. Measured, tender, and unafraid to sit with its characters, writer/director Shan Jiang’s queer romantic drama echoes the most achingly satisfying elements of Richard Linklater’s beloved Before trilogy and Wong Kar-wai’s 90s classics.

My take: There is something magical about the deep connection quickly felt between two people when they know that they are the proverbial ships passing in the night — one of them is leaving soon, while the other remains. I remember one such experience with a guy who passed through Berkeley on one of those “around the world in a year” flight packages, having just that afternoon booked his onward flight. We felt like we had known each other all our lives, and we opened up in ways that would otherwise have taken weeks or months if not years. But of course, off he flew to his next stop, and this was before social media gave us a credible possibility of staying in touch; thirty-plus years onward, I don’t even remember his name.

In Ephemera (浮浮游游), we spend the last night in town before Asher flies back to L.A., with her and Tori, as they wander somewhat randomly through Shanghai, having a wonderful time and talking about their lives in unguarded terms. They wander off into fantasy Hollywood scenarios of what their life together could have been in an alternate universe. It’s mostly very light-hearted and fun, but the undercurrent of real feelings is ever-present, giving the film substance and depth. It’s beautifully done, with a quality that will linger in your memory and in your heart long after Asher boards that flight. Definitely a must see for anyone who has ever experienced that sort of ephemeral connection.

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