Recieved a BFA in Film at the prestigious Ilam School of Fine Arts and a first class honors degree in Archaeology at The University of Otago.His short film "Lenny Minute" was nominated for a Golden Palm at Cannes Film Festival. His first feature was the low-budget success The Irrefutable Truth about Demons (2000), starring New Zealand actor Karl Urban, was nominated for best film awards at fantasy film festivals in Portugal and Spain and became a cult hit on the festival circuit.Standring's second film was Perfect Creature, released in 2007, was an ambitious science fiction set in an alternative universe where vampires protect human beings rather than kill them.