Two Is Enough

A mother contemplates keeping her third child during a time when families were given disincentives and pressured to have no more than two children in 1970s Singapore.

  • Leon Cheo
    Director
  • Leon Cheo
    Writer
  • Chermin Teo
    Producer
  • Janice Ang
    Producer
  • Jen Nee Lim
    Producer
  • Leon Cheo
    Producer
  • Liew Li Ting
    Key Cast
    "Mui Leng"
  • Benjamin Josiah Tan
    Key Cast
    "Chin Seng"
  • Fengnian Lee
    Cinematographer
  • Zi Ling Kuang
    Editor
  • Wei Yong Teo
    Composer
  • Lexi Li
    Production Designer
  • Eve Tan
    Costume Designer
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    16 minutes 32 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 1, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    Singapore
  • Country of Filming:
    Singapore
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.33:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Singapore Shorts 2022
    Singapore
    Singapore
    August 14, 2022
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Kota Kinabalu Int'l Film Festival
    Kota Kinabalu
    Malaysia
    September 21, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Montecatini International Short Film Festival
    Montecatini Terme
    Italy
    In-Competition
  • FFIFA Formosa Festival of International Filmmaker Awards

    Taiwan
    Best Short Film
  • BakunawaFest 9
    Bacolod, Manila & Naga
    Philippines
Director Biography - Leon Cheo

Leon Cheo is the creator, writer and director of the Emmy®-nominated short form series “People Like Us”.

Most recently, he was selected for season two of the Hillman Grad / Indeed Rising Voices program in which he is mentored by Destin Daniel Cretton. His latest short film “SIN-SFO” won Best Live Action and Best Director at the 2019 National Youth Film Awards in Singapore. The film premiered in-competition at the Academy Award-qualifying 25th Austin Film Festival. Other highlights include “The Three Sisters” which won ‘Best Short Film’ at the 2012 NETPAC-Jogja Asian Film Festival; “Move Out Notice” which broadcast on the Lifetime (Asia) channel and nominated for Best Script at the Singapore Short Film Awards; “Nuts” which received honourable mention for the YOMYOMF Interpretations 2.0 competition, founded by Justin Lin (“Fast & Furious”)

A graduate of Chapman University with a BFA in Creative Producing, and Ngee Ann Polytechnic with a diploma in Film, Sound & Video, Leon is also an alumnus of Outfest InFusion (2016), Berlinale Talents (2014), Asian Film Academy (2013) and Talents Tokyo (2012).

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Director Statement

The 1970s and 80s was a time when the Singapore government was at its most controlling and one of its most well-known social campaigns was the “Two is enough” or “Stop at two” population control campaign. In researching this film, I questioned: Whose decision is it to have a child? Why do people have children? How do you decide, when you are influenced by your government, society, family, and partner? I specifically made this film in the Teochew dialect because such Chinese languages have been outlawed in Singapore since 1979 over the preference of standard Mandarin – another example of social engineering. This film continues my interest in making films about the human consequence and impact of policy.