At the age of 18, Radheya Jegatheva has clocked up more air miles in the past 12 months than an emerging movie star.

The Perth teenager is the writer, director and animator of iRony, a short film — and cautionary tale — about the intrusion of technology and social media in people's lives.

Since it was completed a year ago, iRony has won 74 awards and been selected for 168 film festivals around the world.

Two of those festivals, to be held later this year, are qualifying competitions for the Academy Awards.

Radheya Jegatheva hopes to move into live action filmmaking after the success of iRony. ( ABC News: Emily Piesse )

"When I was in Year 12, I wrote this poem called Seven Billion, and I decided to enter it into a poetry competition," Mr Jegatheva recalls.

The poem beat 30,000 other entrants to win the teenager a national poetry prize for young Australian writers.

"I thought maybe I could turn this into a visual poem-type thing, so I made some changes to it," Mr Jegatheva said.

iRony is a cautionary tale about the role of technology and social media in people's lives. ( Facebook: ironyradheya )

The result is an eight-minute, hand-drawn narrative about how "social media and technology can be used in harmful ways, rather than good".

"[It's] the need for validation, this culture of comparing yourselves to others on social media and presenting this perfect image of yourself," Mr Jegatheva said.

World tour leads to doors of Nokia Bell Labs, Pixar

The string of countries where iRony has won prizes resembles a backpacker's bucket list: India, Canada, Ukraine, the United States, Nigeria, Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia and Brazil, among others.

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In 2017 alone, Mr Jegatheva travelled to film festivals on four continents to see his creation.

"I went to Alabama, Turkey, Prague, Japan. I went over to Warburton in Victoria and I went to Melbourne [twice]."

"There are a few Japanese references in the film and it was so good to go there and see people's reactions to it."

iRony has won 74 awards and been selected for 168 film festivals around the world. ( Facebook: ironyradheya )

This year, he will travel to the US twice — once for a 10-week internship at Nokia Bell Labs in New Jersey, and again for a three-day, behind-the-scenes tour of the Pixar Animation Studios in California.

But those trips will have to be scheduled around his university studies, a combined Bachelor of Commerce and Arts degree at Curtin University.

Exploring word play and puns

iRony uses symbolism and cultural references to communicate its ideas about smart devices, social media and addiction.

"I just think about the most creative ways to express my ideas," Mr Jegatheva said.

"I love word play and just puns."

Mr Jegatheva says his father Jay Jay has been a big source of support in his filmmaking journey. ( ABC News: Emily Piesse )

While the film is not autobiographical, Mr Jegatheva said he used his experiences — particularly on social media — for inspiration.

"If I didn't get enough likes, I felt like that was representative of my popularity … it did affect [me]," he said.

"I'm trying to use social media a lot less now."

His first film Journey, about two astronauts travelling across the universe, was written while he was in Year 10 at Perth Modern School.

Family's joy after father's change of heart

Mr Jegatheva's father Jay Jay Jegathesan, who is the narrator in iRony, said his son's achievements had brought the family "joy and happiness almost on a weekly basis".

Jay Jay Jegathesan says he originally nudged his son towards a career in commerce. ( ABC News: Emily Piesse )

Having steered his son towards studying commerce, Mr Jegathesan said he had a change of heart when iRony beat out an Academy Award-winning filmmaker at a festival in Queensland.

"That's when we realised maybe we shouldn't be pushing him down a path which we want, and let him follow his dreams," he said.

For Mr Jegatheva, all the positive feedback for iRony has been a welcome surprise.

"I never thought that any of this would have happened, like the awards and the opportunities to go travel," Mr Jegatheva said.

"Whether it's like making music for it, or just coming up with a story or coming up with the imagery and the visuals, I just really love being able to make my vision come alive on screen and for me to show it to the world.

"I just really want to express my creativity."