In life as in art: Hong Kong actress Stephy Tang on playing a woman in her thirties torn between marriage and personal liberty in My Prince Edward

Ryan Gosling/Michelle Williams film Blue Valentine, and Iranian classic A Separation, were inspirations for Hong Kong filmmaker Norris Wong’s feature debut

Wong, who began writing the script the day she turned 30, says she fully grasped the problem of the couple at the centre of her story only after making the film

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Stephy Tang and Chu Pak-hong in a still from My Prince Edward. They play a couple in a long-term relationship and close to marrying in the film, Hong Kong director Norris Wong’s feature debut.

Published: 7:15pm, 10 Jun 2020Updated: 8:41pm, 10 Jun 2020

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in her thirties, must be in want of a husband – that, at least, is what the more conservative members of a Chinese society like Hong Kong’s would have you believe. But don’t tell that to filmmaker Norris Wong Yee-lam, 33, and actress Stephy Tang Lai-yan, 36, neither of whom are married. Both seem to be having the time of their lives.

The pair’s new film, My Prince Edward, has become one of the most celebrated Hong Kong productions of the past year. Set around Golden Plaza, a shopping centre for affordable wedding supplies in Prince Edward, a working-class Hong Kong neighbourhood, it addresses marriage and personal freedom through the story of Fong, played by Tang, and her long-term boyfriend Edward (Chu Pak-hong).

Before this film, Wong was known for her screenwriting work on Margaret & David: Green Bean, a series that aired on ViuTV – a free-to-air TV station based in Hong Kong.

My Prince Edward, her first full-length feature, received three nominations in Taipei’s Golden Horse Film Awards (known as the Oscars of Chinese-language film), and eight nominations in the Hong Kong Film Awards; the film picked up two prizes – for best new director and original film score – in the latter.

“I’m very happy with the results, especially because this is just my first film,” Wong says. “But perhaps this is down to there having been fewer films released on the market each year. It has become easier for one film to receive eight nominations.”