Naga filmmaker Theja Rio wins the Platform Award at TIFF for Angh, giving the Nagaland-set film a direct route to Oscar consideration in the Best International Feature Film category
Dimapur: Naga filmmaker Theja Rio has won the Platform Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for his debut feature Angh, marking a major international breakthrough for Naga cinema and the Northeast.
The win gives Angh a direct route into consideration for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, scheduled for March 14, 2027, in Los Angeles.
Speaking after the win, Rio dedicated the award to people in the Northeast, describing the recognition of a film from an indigenous region and spoken in a tribal language as “truly special”. “I come from a small town in the Northeast of India where dreams do not often come true for my people,” Rio said, dedicating the award to people back home.
Angh was the only Indian film to have its world premiere in TIFF’s competitive Platform section this year. Set in Nagaland in the 1960s, the film explores faith, identity and cultural change through the story of Angbha, the last surviving chief of a deserted village.
Shot on 16mm film, Angh features largely non-professional actors cast from villages in the region. Rio said the approach was partly shaped by the absence of an established film industry in the region.
The filmmaker said the TIFF recognition was “the stuff of dreams”, while acknowledging that the road to an Oscar nomination remains ahead. The development comes shortly after Santosh Davakhar’s Gondhal was selected as India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category.
For Nagaland, the win has also brought Naga cinema and its storytellers further into the international spotlight.
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