MY PRINCE EDWARD

* This film is available to view in California only.

Best New Director, 2020 Hong Kong Film Awards
Film of Merit, 2020 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards

Fong’s got a big secret. Years ago, she had a sham marriage to get some quick cash and help a mainlander come to Hong Kong. Trouble is, her longtime boyfriend Edward finally(!) proposes, and the fake marriage is still on the books. Now, Fong must secretly locate and divorce her first husband in order to marry her second. Even worse, Shuwei the Fake Husband won’t cut the marital cord until she helps him get travel papers. No big deal, except something about free spirited Shuwei has Fong questioning everything. Her man-child boyfriend, who clips his toenails in bed. Hong Kong’s sky high rents. A future mother-in-law with a key to their apartment. Her job working with Edward in a one-stop-shop for cheap wedding supplies. Fong just can’t seem to shake the feeling that they may be pros at weddings, but probably not at love.

Shot in 18 days on a shoestring budget of $400,000, MY PRINCE EDWARD’s depiction of the stifling pressures faced by modern women breathes fresh contemporary air into Hong Kong independent cinema. With superstar Stephy Tang, director Norris Wong’s debut playfully unspools the micro-compressions of runaway real estate, elder relationships, and the male spotlight, while also flipping the typical script on Hong Kong-China conservatism. Finding freedom from an entangled domestic situation seems especially fraught material in today’s climate. However, in a time when Hong Kong’s film industry has shrunk beyond anyone’s wildest imagination, MY PRINCE EDWARD and last year’s Fagara prove the potential of small films about complicated women to win over audiences worldwide.

–Christina Ree