The Savant

Repeatedly suspended police officer, Nick Tantino, has found himself relegated to D.A.R.E. duty at his town's public high school. Already frustrated with the realisms of the criminal justice system, Nick wants nothing more than to leave police work and follow his dreams of becoming a professional MMA fighter. At 40 though, he's not in his prime - and mentally saddled with a past not known to his colleagues, the troubled cop is in a perpetual state of confusion. The arrival of an autistic student at the high school, however, suddenly puts his long standing MMA goal in motion--just in a different manner. 

Cassie Rodriguez had abruptly moved her family - consisting only of her 17-year-old brother Anthony and herself - from Florida to New Jersey. An ambitious young lawyer, she landed a position with a criminal defense firm in the Garden State, but the locale change was more an effort to help Anthony and his struggles with autism. Diagnosed with different strains of the disorder, including Asperger’s syndrome which apparently causes him to lack all social skills, Anthony also has periodic, unexplained violent outbursts. This caused him to be expelled from his most recent Florida school, and immediately resulted in trouble in his new northern setting. 

Refusing to speak with other students, and only mumbling a few words to teachers in the special education program, Anthony found himself the subject of ridicule and jokes by immature students. Nick noted that the boy, true to autistic stereotype, never reacted - that is until two fellow students mocked him in Spanish. Here, is where Nick witnessed an aberration of autistic abilities, and the vehicle for a personal resurgence: Anthony held awesome innate reflexive and fighting abilities, demonstrated so perfectly as he physically floored the two instigators, who happened to be top students of a local martial arts school. 

Rather than have Anthony expelled from yet another high school, Nick convinces the Board of Education to allow him to personally oversee Anthony's senior year, serving as an on-site mentor. Passionate that he can cull Anthony's incredible skills, he persuades Cassie that there is a massive benefit in the discipline embedded in mixed martial arts. 

What ensues is a terrific fight story: one in the ring; one in the mind; one in law; one in love. Nick re-opens his own brand of fighting, a craft largely built on offense. But he also re-opens his past, a history that more includes defense. 

Through an undying devotion to his unlikely protege, Nick works to unravel the mystery of Anthony's anti-social, autistic behavior - via the unorthodox therapy of fighting. Cassie, growing in love with her brother's mentor, works to stop the unraveling of Nick's mysterious past - utilizing her expertise in criminal law. A competing martial arts school sensei, who also serves as the County Prosecutor, works, with a vengeance, to prevent both goals of love. All collide at a finale MMA.

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Robert Loggia (Academy Award and Emmy nominee; Scarface, Big, Independence Day)

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Eric Roberts (Academy Award nominee; The Pope of Greenwich Village;

The Expendables)

Joyce DeWitt ("Three's Company")

Eric Etebari ("Witchblade", The Lincoln Lawyer)

 

Martin Kove (The Karate Kid; Rambo)

Michael Rivera (Fighting; Falling Awake)

Angela Little (American Pie Presents Band Camp; My Boss's Daughter)

Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling ("The Howard Stern Show")
 

Produced by Kenneth Del Vecchio

 

Story & Screenplay by Kenneth Del Vecchio

 

Directed by Sherri Kauk

 

KENNETH DEL VECCHIO

Acclaimed Filmmaker & Best-selling Author

Film Festival Chairman & former Judge

 

“As usual, Mr. Del Vecchio was larger than life.”

-The New York Times​

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Kenneth Del Vecchio is a critically acclaimed filmmaker who has written, produced and directed over 30 movies that star 100+ film and TV stars, including multiple Academy Award and Emmy winners and nominees. His films are distributed through industry leaders such as Sony Pictures, NBC/Universal, Anchor Bay, Millennium Entertainment, Cinedigm, Screen Media Films, Vivendi Entertainment, Green Apple Entertainment, and E-1 Entertainment. He has starred in numerous movies, as well. Mr. Del Vecchio is founder and chairman of Hoboken International Film Festival, called by FOX, MY and other major media "One of the 10 Biggest Film Festivals in the World." He also is the author of some of the nation’s best-selling legal books, including criminal codebooks published by Prentice Hall and ALM. A best-selling criminal suspense novelist, he penned his first published novel at only 24-years-old. In addition, he is a frequent legal/political analyst on Fox News and other major networks, and he is the owner of the Criminal Law Learning Center, where he has taught thousands of police officers and lawyers…And he is a former Judge, who also has tried over 400 cases as a practicing criminal attorney. 

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Kenneth Del Vecchio’s filmography includes: The Life Zone, Scavenger Killers, An Affirmative Act, Price For Freedom, Rock Story, The Savant, Snapshot, Bleeding Hearts, Cries of the Unborn, Blue Lives Matter, O.B.A.M. Nude, Joker’s Wild, iMurders, Kinky Killers, The Grand Theft, Fake, Hospital Arrest, Renaissance Man, The Great Fight, 15 Rounds, Four Presidents, Puppets, Aberrant, Real Gangsters, Three Chris’s, Alone in the Dark 2, The Drum Beats Twice, Pride & Loyalty, Tinsel Town, Here and There, The Crimson Mask, and Rules For Men. His novels are Pride & Loyalty, Revelation in the Wilderness, and The Great Heist (his most recent novel). And his legal books include: Code of Criminal Justice: A Practical Guide to the Penal Statutes (national criminal codebook), New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice: A Practical Guide to the Penal Statutes, New York Code of Criminal Justice: A Practical Guide to the Penal Statutes, and Test Prep Guide to Accompany New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice, with numerous others in the works.

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For more detailed information about Kenneth Del Vecchio, including critical reviews and press quotes, please visit www.justiceforallproductions.com &  www.hobokeninternationalfilmfestival.com.