Chan Man-Yuen

Summer, 2003. The SARS epidemic is easing, school resumes. Hau-Ching overhears her crush Tsz-Hin complimenting another girl’s glasses. To get a pair of glasses, Hau-Ching tries all kinds of tricks to become shortsighted. Behind this budding love looms the persistent threat of the epidemic, and the quiet unravelling of the fragile family fabric. As Hau-Ching pretends to lose focus of things around her, the obscure picture of her absent parents becomes ever more apparent. A bittersweet coming-of-age tale featuring Sean WONG Tsz-lok, Golden Horse Award 2023 for Best Supporting Actor nominee for Time Still Turns the Pages (2023).

Those Summer Days We Will Never Forget reveals the challenges and struggles of a young protester couple after fleeing from Hong Kong to Taiwan. Together, Ahua and Baoxin participated in the frontlines protest with liberal idealists. However, their desire to settle down for comfort and stable love led them to escape from the unstable political persecution. They got the opportunity to make a living in Taiwan through the help of Uncle Biao. As time passed by, they realized they had different visions for the future. Ahua has always wanted to move back to his homeland; while Baoxin preferred to start a new life in Taiwan. Baoxin understood that they wanted different things out of life and decided to break up.

Always the good daughter, Chieh-Ju meets Wai-bun, who has recently moved to Taiwan from Hong Kong, and the lovers soon contemplate marriage. During the wedding preparations, an unexpected encounter with Wai-bun’s old acquaintance from Hong Kong causes turbulence in the relationship, when secrets of Wai-bun’s past surface. Chieh-Ju realises that there is much she does not understand about this stranger from this strange place with a strange history, and her ideas of love, honesty, loyalty and goodness face an unprecedented challenge. This short offers a rare discussion of contemporary sexuality set against the recent social upheavals of the region.