Get entries after a certain time
That will give you all entries, from today (so not past entries) starting after 5PM:

{% set startAfterTime = '17.00'|date('U') %}
{% set today = now|atom|date %}

{% set events = craft.entries()
    .section('events')
    .status(['live', 'pending'])
    .postDate('&gt;=' ~ today )
    .eventStartTime('&gt;=' ~ startAfterTime)
    .all() %}