Biography

Ricky Townsend is a filmmaker from Ōtautahi with a BFA Hons in Film from Ilam School of Fine Arts. Paired with a background in theatre, Ricky works in many areas of production such as directing, writing and editing. As an autistic filmmaker, he uses filmmaking to understand the world and express his feelings to others. Exploring stories through the eyes and thinking of neurodivergent voices is an important part of Ricky’s process as an artist and storyteller. Ricky’s recent independent feature film The Bostrom Scenario has been screening in genre festivals around the world including the 49th Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, Gen Con Film Festival and Galacticat. His film also won Best Sci-Fi Thriller at the Miami Sci-Fi Film Festival. Ricky's short film Wilbert Wire, was commissioned by Day One Shorts in Aotearoa; funded by NZ on Air, Whakaata Māori, Te Māngai Pāho and RNZ. Ricky's other short films have screened at Sydney Indie Film Festival and Top of the South Film Festival in Aotearoa.