Stork

Childhood can be an elusive and complex part of our lives. Bright-eyed and full of wonder; every child possesses a tenacious hunger to discover life; but with each uncovered truth, their cognition of reality proliferates into a snowball of fantasy. Every idea instilled into their minds are like seeds that sprout imminently into trees filled with blooming flowers. However, in time this fantasy will gradually crumble back into reality, and it will be like it never even existed.

The idea of this film is to recognise the world through a child’s gaze, giving the children a center stage in the narrative. Through this perspective, I hope to bring forth how child perception can be shaped and even manipulated through the stories they read or heard, as well as events happening in the unreachable depths of the adult world. What children cannot fathom, or knowledge beyond their grasp, creates gaps which they will in turn fill with imagination. This universal weakness of children is sometimes exploited by parents who tell stories that scare them into obedience.

Set in the 1970s where the two-child policy comes into effect, the narrative of the film is built upon the dramatic premise of: ‘What would happen if a child learns of the 2-child policy?’ What would an eight-year-old girl with an impending third sibling do when she discovers that ‘two is enough?’ The film explores the fleeting imagination that ruptures within a child when met with an incomprehensible truth, and how she would relentlessly attempt to make sense of it. This also serves to bring about the poetic evocation of childish naiveté.