SFS FILM FEST 2020

RADHEYA JEGATHEVA

Featured Film Director

The success of Radheya Jegatheva's animated short films has been his ticket to travel the world. In 2016, his first film Journey was part of the film festival circuit. Last year, the 19-year-old's second film iRony screened at 279 festivals across the world, picking up 140 awards. 

"Radheya Jegatheva is a Perth based Australian filmmaker, born in Malaysia to parents of South Korean and Malaysian ancestry. Radheya's films have been selected to 10 Academy Award Qualifying Festivals along with an Australian Academy of Cinema & TV Arts (AACTA) Award nomination, which is Australia's equivalent to the Oscars. He is a Bachelor of Commerce and Arts student at Curtin University in Western Australia. Radheya's films which collectively have more than 500 official selections worldwide had won awards in 6 of the worlds 7 continents with the last frontier being breached in July 2018, when one of his films played at Antarctica's Davis Research Station."

Radheya Jegatheva Statement: iRony A film that explores the relationship between man and technology...told from the perspective of a phone. Variously described as an Animation, an Experimental Film, a Narrative, a Documentary or a Film-Poem depending on who you speak to, this hand drawn animated film is based on the poem 'Seven Billion' written by the film director that won 2 National poetry awards: The Young Australian Writer’s National Award for Poetry, selected out of a field of 30,000 and the Karen W Treanor Poetry Award (Youth).

Anthony Ortiz

Film Curator

In 2012, I never would have guessed that I would be a filmmaker as my career of choice. It all started when I got a small handheld Sony camcorder for a graduation present, I immediately began making little movies of my dogs, family parties and my friends bands. As a musician I got more involved with the local music scene and started making videos for a promoter. I would make promotional videos and content for the shows and bands. I spent hours upon hours teaching myself to shoot, edit and learn more challenging things. I taught myself how to animate in After Effects and started to make lyric videos and other motion graphic type videos. I've also always been fascinated by movies so I started to research and learn about filmmaking.

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After a couple years of working with promoters in the music scene for video work, I decided to take my own path and establish myself as a professional filmmaker / videographer. Divergence Studios was born and I began connecting with amazing people and building meaningful relationships. I helped tell their stories and bring their vision to life through my craft.

In the fall of 2018, I wrote and directed my first short film "The New Neighbor." In May of 2019, it was selected to be screened at the Santa Fe Springs Film Festival. I'm constantly learning and will never stop. I strive for growth, innovation and improvement, not perfection. I'm human and humans are not perfect, but that is exactly why I embrace being authentic as an artist and continue telling my stories through this amazing craft that I fell in love with back in 2012. I couldn't have done it without my family, friends and mentors. Here's to a long and prosperous journey of storytelling! Cheers!