Trading Cards

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Audience Award (Animation Competition) Winner

An enigmatic man journeys back in time to find his younger self, seemingly to revisit the nostalgia of trading cards. An exploration of identity, mental health and the erosion of childhood innocence, Trading Cards is a dark fantasy animated film about the weight of living with Obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Director
Radheya Jegatheva
Time
0.010405093
Country
Australia, United Kingdom
Genre
Animation
Year
2026
Cast
Jay Jay Jegathesan

Awards Nominations

Best Australian Animation at 35th Flickerfest International Short Film Festival

Director

Radheya Jegatheva

Radheya Jang is an Oscar-qualified Australian director based in London. His work spans across animation, documentary and live action, and have garnered over 50 Academy Award-qualifying Festival selections, including works recognised by Sony and the World Health Organisation. He has also collaborated with internationally recognised brands including Dyson and WaterAid.

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Recommended comments

I think the visual style and feel of the film might be attractive to viewers, as an eclectic dark fantasy film with a lot of influences from various cultures and folk tales. Tarot cards are a significant part of the imagery used, and there was a lot of inspiration?from Pamela Colman Smith's?illustrations from the 1909 tarot deck conceptualised by A. E. Waite. I wanted to put my own spin on tarot and combine it in a new context, and so I think that could be intriguing?to viewers. I also personally love media that combines elements of childhood with eerie, dark imagery, such as the trailer for Playground by Rodrigo Sousa, which people might find alluring. The film is also very self-referential and features extensions of myself at different points in time, it's a very?personal film and a lot of it is based on my lived experience?with OCD. I wanted to make a mental health film in a style and manner that I'd never seen before, and so the unusual approach might be an attractive point of Trading Cards.

Cast

Jay Jay Jegathesan

Screening

Screening Venue

VenueScheduleTicket Reservation
kino cinéma Shinjuku2026.11.06 [Fri] 19:10-20:30

Online Screening

OnlinescheduleOnline Screening
Online Screening2026.11.09 [Mon] - 2026.11.22 [Sun]

Recommended

Organizer

Committee for Short Shorts Film Festival Asia

Co-organizer

Tokyo

Sponsor

Nihonchokuhan Inc.

株式会社 TYO

CapCut

TOPVIEW JAPAN株式会社

Patronage

J-WAVE, Inc.

Venue Supporter

kino cinéma Shinjuku

Partner

39th Tokyo International Film Festival

ARTE TOKYO

Support

Direct. Network systems.

Japan Arts Council, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan