Mr. Savant

Stanley Savant is a young man with Autism and is sharing a Doctor’s waiting room with a loud-mouthed right winger, a vomiting tweenager and an anti-vax mother. They are talking about Stanley behind his back. Stanley Savant must find a way to stand up for himself.

  • Ricky Townsend
    Director
    TRUTH.exe
  • Ricky Townsend
    Writer
    TRUTH.exe
  • Oliver Jenks
    Producer
  • Ricky Townsend
    Producer
  • Lillian Fata
    Key Cast
    "Young Woman"
  • Freddy Wilson
    Key Cast
    "Stanley Savant"
  • Haydon Dickie
    Key Cast
    "Man"
  • Natalie Dredge
    Key Cast
    "Mother"
  • Quinn Kueppers
    Key Cast
    "George"
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Comedy, Drama
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 42 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 26, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    New Zealand
  • Country of Filming:
    New Zealand
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, Cinema 4K/2K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.90:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • The Outlook for Someday 2019 Film Challenge
    Online
    New Zealand
    November 22, 2019
    Online
    One of 10 Winning Films
Director Biography - Ricky Townsend

Ricky Townsend is a young filmmaker from Christchurch, New Zealand. Ricky is a fine arts student, specialising in film, at the Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury. He is also pursuing an arts degree in Philosophy.

Ricky was diagnosed within the Autism Spectrum Disorder at a very young age. Because of this, Ricky has found filmmaking helps him understand other people and be understood in ways he could never achieve before.

Ricky Townsend’s early work won the Overall Secondary Student Award for the 2016 ‘New Zealand Young Filmmakers Competition’ and the Secondary School Runner Up Award for the 2016 ‘FocusOnAbility Short Film Festival’. Ricky also directed the comedic ‘How To Bus’ social etiquette video with Metro Canterbury which currently has more than 260 thousand views on Facebook.

Ricky has had his recent short films 'Tremble' and 'TRUTH.exe' selected for the 2019 Sydney Indie Film Festival, the 45th Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, the Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival, the SciFi Film Festival, in Australia, and the Changing Face International Film Festival.

'TRUTH.exe' won Best Student Film at the Miami International Science Fiction Film festival and 'Tremble' was nominated for Best True Story at the Sydney Indie Film Festival.

Ricky's short film on autism, 'Mr. Savant', is one of 10 winning films in The Outlook for Someday 2019 Film Challenge. A nationwide film competition for people under 24 in New Zealand.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I was diagnosed with Autism at a very young age and so naturally being under the spectrum has had a major impact on my life and to me as a person. I wanted to return to this personal topic in a manner which doesn’t merely dissolve into self-pity.

I knew that I wanted to look into how the attitudes against neuro-diversity have been sustained over time despite how much our understanding of the topic has developed. It ended up making sense for me to make a cathartic work, a film that uses comedy to express the absurdity of this conservative attitude and to give the audience the satisfaction of out-witting it.