Clifford Tsang Man-Wai

While same sex marriage is broadly celebrated in Europe and North America, Hong Kong reminded as a metropolis where such basic social security is missing for the queer communities. Dedicated to the Hong Kong queer icon, Ellen Loo, who committed suicide in 2018, and starting from the moment where Ricky come out to his family, Forever 17 explore an imaginable future for the queer community, through love and acceptance, betrayal and forgiveness, pain and recovery, death and survival, inheritance and eternity, and honouring a life long commitments.

One day Pak, a taxi driver who refuses to retire, meets Hoi, a retired single father, in a park. Although both are secretly gay, they are proud of the families they have created through hard work and determination. Yet in that brief initial encounter, something is unleashed in them which had been suppressed for so many years. As both men recount and recall their personal histories, they also contemplate a possible future together.

The average person’s head has up to 100,000 hairs. Each strand may be unique in length and texture but they are said to bear our memories of sorrow and worry. Neighbors come to the old shop “Barber’s Time” to part with both their hair and bad memories. Although Cantonese style haircutting is on the slippery slope to extinction, barber shop owner Hoi-chuen wishes for his son Cheung-fat to manage the shop. Aspiring to be a writer like J. D. Salinger instead, Cheung-fat takes over “Barber’s Time” when his father had an accident. Just like his father, Cheung-fat develops rapport with the customers and provides guidance. His own life also turns around when a runaway girl comes to the shop. A magical heartwarming tale of community support and kindness, the short features Kaki Shum from the film “Weeds of Fire”.