About this Short Film
World Famous (2024), directed by Jodie Van de Wetering, is an Australian short included in the Focus on Ability International Short Film Festival. The film explores themes of achievement, acting and motivation while also touching on autism, cognitive processing disability and adult perspectives. With a mix of comedy and thoughtful moments, it asks audiences to reconsider stereotypes, stigma and assumptions about skills and perception in group and theatrical settings, including how platforms like YouTube shape viewpoint and recognition. Short and engaging, World Famous contributes to the festival’s aim to highlight the abilities, experiences and achievements of people with disability.
Film Details
Film Transcript
Knowing I was autistic was a big reason I didn't go into acting until I was nearly 40. I had this idea that actors had to have super-good social skills and be very skilled interpersonally, and I just wasn't. I was a big awkward lump and I thought, well, that's just out — I just can't do that. It surprised me then that I actually could exist in a creative, acting kind of role. I genuinely just didn't even think it was an option for the longest time.
I've always wanted to be an actor since I was five, so it never really crossed my mind that I couldn't. I just wanted to do it so badly that I felt like, I'm going to do it. I've had people tell me you're not going to be able to do this, you're not going to be able to do that, and being the person I am I just don't listen to them. It took a while, but I'm really happy that I finally get to do it.
The stereotype that all autistic people are good at maths, coding and science just needs to go away and be buried at the bottom of the sea, because there are so many of us who don't have those skills. You end up being made to feel like, okay, you failed at being a neurotypical person, but now you've also failed at being autistic because you don't have the maths-savant super skills they're talking about. This is why they're good for the economy — it's like, I don't exist to be good for the economy. It's okay if your skills are creative, or homemaking skills, or skills that aren't good for the economy. My mum would be killing herself laughing — she was a school teacher and she tried to teach me maths. Everyone has different skill sets; maths is not one of my strong areas. In high school my friends, having seen Rain Man, would say, "We'll take you to Vegas and you can count cards." I'd tell them the same thing I always tell them: you take me to Vegas to count cards for you, you're going to lose your house. I'm a casino owner's wet dream. I can't even win Go Fish, so that's kind of off the table, I don't think.
and balls is not explicitly an autistic show in that we never said, "This is a show about autistic people." We weren't thinking about autism when we were designing the characters or the scenarios. The characters actually predate us in the roles — it was a concept before we were cast. So no, it's not an autistic show, but the two leads are autistic. At least one of the people who've helped out on the cast and crew is autistic; there are people with all kinds of different neurodivergence involved. I think it's inevitable that that does affect it, because improv is about bringing who you are as a person. For me, who I am as a person is hugely informed by the way my brain works, because that's where me as a person lives. So yes, it is an autistic programme in that sense.
I don't really think it's just about us, mainly because everyone involved — it's not just us. The director, sound, all the other cast members — very few of them are on the spectrum — but we all share this sort of similar wavelength, this similar cheeky madness, I guess you'd call it. I think it's something that exists in everyone, and that's why it's resonated so strongly with people, because everyone has that little bit inside them they just don't show, because you've got to be a responsible adult. We did show it; nothing ever got done, which I guess isn't that different from how things are running now. But you get my point.
Filmmaker
Jodie Van de Wetering is the filmmaker behind this entry. See every Focus on Ability entry from Jodie Van de Wetering.
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I didnt notice any autistic element in the wonderful Koche Boules but maybe thats because I am also on the spectrum. And Im bloody bad at maths too