Forever 17
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 honoring a life long commitments.
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Kit HungDirectorSoundless Wind Chime
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Kit HungWriterSoundless Wind Chime
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Jay LinProducer
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Jun LeungKey Cast"Ricky"
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SamKey Cast"Ho"
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Project Title (Original Language):推開世界的門
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Project Type:Experimental, Short, Student
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Runtime:30 minutes
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Completion Date:November 12, 2019
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Production Budget:50,000 USD
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Country of Origin:Hong Kong
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Country of Filming:Hong Kong
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Language:Chinese
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:1.33
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:Yes
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Golden Horse Film FestivalTaipei
Taiwan
November 17, 2019
Asia -
Hong Kong Independent Film FestivalHong Kong
Hong Kong
January 13, 2020
Hong Kong Premiere
Distribution Information
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GagaOooLalaDistributorCountry: WorldwideRights: Internet, Video on Demand, Pay Per View
Kit Hung graduated from the MFA program from the Department of Film, Video and New Media, Chicago Art Institute, USA. His 1st feature film “Soundless Wind Chime” was officially nominated for the Teddy award 2009, Berlin International Film Festival. He is a researcher at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and a lecturer in the academy of film, Hong Kong Baptist University. “Forever 17” is part of his Ph.D. project “Feeling Kinship” and part 1 of the trilogy “Firework” from Goldsmiths, London.
Ellen come out on stage and announce her marriage in Canada with her wife, a year later she jumped off a building from the 32nd floor. Ellen’s suicide is mostly reported as her personal and emotional problems, but none of them investigate her personal history growing up as a transnational queer who wants to pursue a singing career. Most importantly how’s her suicide impact the queer community in Hong Kong.
For me, Ellen’s death and the ban on same-sex marriage repeatedly reveal the injustice of the heteronormative social system that is rooted in our specific culture, telling me how difficult is it for a queer to be “simple and ordinary”, in a way that we can share intimate practices without thinking how people will look at us, and how we would look at ourselves. We have always been stigmatized as “the others” and “the different”, we do not fit within the normality of social expectation, being “simple and ordinary” seems to be just for the heterosexual. In Hong Kong, seldom do we see queer couples on the street or media, let along those, together, growing old and facing challenges of maintaining long term relationships. The media repeatedly tells us how difficult it is for us to come out, but rarely tell us what is after coming out, as well as what is after (if) we can get married. “Forever 17”, ambitiously trying to squeeze the life of a queer couple in 30mins, and present an imaginable future for the queer community, a future that we can chase and achieve.