Film Synopsis

Ricky and Roger lived together and fell in love with each other for more than 40 years. Roger passed away recently, and every time Ricky tidies up their bed, memories flood him from every corner and at every touch. Inside a drawer, he found two red envelopes given to Roger by Ricky’s parents nearly half-century ago, on the day Roger spent the 1^st Chinese New Year dinner with Ricky’s family... 

Ricky和Roger是對相戀超過四十年的伴侶，然而，Roger在近期過世了；每次Ricky整理那張他們曾經共枕的床時，回憶便從各個角落、每一次的觸碰中襲來，無處可躲。Ricky在抽屜裡找到兩個紅包，那是將近半世紀以前Roger第一次和Ricky的家人一起過年時，Ricky父母給Roger的。

(Film still from Forever 17)

A flashback shows the love story between Ricky and Roger, from Ricky's coming out and the disapproval of his family, to the time he met with Roger. The story re-imagines a future for us: in 2029, Hong Kong passed same-sex marriage legislation, Ricky and Roger and two other lesbian couples become the first registered same-sex married couples in Hong Kong. Ricky's parents gave them their own wedding rings as a blessing, the best proof of acceptance from the heterosexual parents to his queer son and his partner. The film carries on as an ordinary and fairy-tale-like story, a future a lot of queer people desire but struggle to imagine due to stigma and discrimination. Forever 17  tells us that a lifelong queer relationship comes to existence through love and care, betrayal and forgiveness, pain and recovery, death and survival,  inheritance and eternity, and honouring mutual commitments.

緊接著，劇情回溯兩人的故事，一路從Ricky出櫃、受家人否定，一直到他遇見Roger。這則故事重新想像了另一個未來：2029年，香港通過同婚立法，Ricky和Roger還有另外兩對女同志成了香港第一批結婚的同性伴侶。Ricky的父母把他們的婚戒給了Ricky和Roger，傳承了一份不分性別的祝福，實現了異性戀父母對酷兒孩子與他丈夫的接納。本片看起來好像是個平凡又夢幻的故事，這是許多酷兒夢想的未來，但因現存的歧視和偏見，這些想像往往遙不可及。《Forever 17》透過酷兒們對雙方的關愛、背叛、死亡去學懂怎樣寬恕和治癒，從苦痛中復原，得到愛的傳承，和永恆的承諾。《Forever 17》告訴我們，酷兒之間的終身伴侶關係並非遙不可及。

(Film still from Forever 17)

Director's Statement

Forever 17  is the first part of the “Fire Work” (working title) trilogy. The film is dedicated to two honourable queer icons from Hong Kong, actor and singer Leslie Cheung (張國榮), and singer and friend Ellen Loo (盧凱彤), who died of suicide. The queer community in Hong Kong must free themselves from the sorrow of their death, and build a brighter future together: we can grow old together with our life long partners, we can lead a life without fear and discrimination, and that we can feel as, and actually be a part of the society.

《Forever 17》是《煙花火》（標題暫定）三部曲的第一發。本片獻給兩位香港酷兒的靈魂人物：演員和歌手張國榮，以及去年（2018）自殺的歌手與友人盧凱彤。僅以本片懷念兩人。儘管香港酷兒社群在經歷不同的社會問題，我們必須從死亡的悲痛中走出，共同構築一個明亮的未來：我們可以與伴侶白頭偕老，我們可以過著不受恐懼和歧視侵擾的生活，我們可以真正覺得自己也是社會的一份子。

(Ellen Loo and Leslie Cheung)

“A simple, ordinary life” seems to be easy to achieve but, unfortunately, that is only true for "the ordinary", heterosexual people. Forever 17  put queerness into an ordinary life looks forward to. We have always been stigmatized as “the others” and “the different”, and we do not fit within the normality of social expectation. 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 relationship. Forever 17  seeks to tell that lost story for the LGBT community, envisioning a more open and brighter future for us.

「簡單平凡的生活」看起來似乎再容易不過，但僅屬於「平凡」的異性戀者。《Forever 17》將酷兒放入每個人都冀望體會的日常之中。我們一直被標籤為「異類」。而我們也一直不見容於社會期待的「正常」框架之中。在香港，無論是街上或媒體，我們幾乎看不到酷兒伴侶的身影，更遑論一同變老或長期伴侶關係的議題。《Forever 17》旨在述說一個LGBT社群中落失的故事，藉此展望一個更為開放、明亮的未來。

About Director Kit Hung

Kit Hung (IMDb) is a lecturer at the Film Academy, Hong Kong Baptist University.  Graduated with Master in Fine Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he is currently undertaking a research degree studies in the Department of Media and Communications at the Goldsmiths College, University of London.  He is an award-winning director with his films screened at over 100 international film festivals.  His short films "invisible people (有人)" and "I am not what you want (天使)" premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and received awards from festivals in Hong Kong. His first feature film "Soundless Wind Chime" has won 6 international awards and was nominated for the Teddy Awards at Berlin Film Festival, released in 14 countries in 6 different languages.  He also received Best Director and Best New Director awards in Spain and Italy. 

洪榮杰（IMDb）是香港浸會大學電影學院的講師，他於芝加哥藝術學院取得碩士學位後，現正於倫敦大學金匠學院媒體與傳理學系修讀研究學位。洪榮杰獲獎眾多，他所製作的電影曾於全世界上百個影展放映。他的短片《有人》和《天使》都於鹿特丹影展首映，並且在香港及外地許多影展獲獎。他的第一部長片《無聲風鈴》獲頒六個國際性的電影大獎，獲柏林影展泰迪熊獎提名，以六種語言於十四個國家上映。在西班牙和義大利，他也得到了最佳導演獎和最佳新興導演獎。

What We Need

Forever 17  finished shooting on December 2018. We are currently looking for the necessary funds to finalize post-production of the film, and also market it and start submitting to film festivals around the world.

Forever 17  is targeted to premiere at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival, as well as other international film festivals.

Learn more about the project:

Forever 17  project page on GOL STUDIOS.

Official Facebook page.

If you want to contribute to this project in any other way, please send us an email to jaime@porticomedia.com

Thank you very much.

《Forever 17》於去年（2018）十二月完成拍攝，目前正在尋求經費用以供應後製、行銷和繳交作品至世界各地的影展。

《Forever 17》的首映日目前訂於2020柏林國際影展，以及世界各地的國際性影展。

更多本計畫內容：

《Forever 17》是GOL STUDIOS的專案計畫之一。

《Forever 17》官方臉書

如果你願意以其他方式來幫助本計畫，煩請寄電子郵件至jaime@porticomedia.com

感謝您。