Nagaland filmmaker Theja Rio has made history at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), with his debut feature ‘Angh’ winning the Platform Prize and securing a direct route into the 2027 Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film race.
TIFF announced the winner on Sunday, 20 September. The jury praised the film for its “refreshing perspective”, filmmaking strength and “deeply resonant portrait of a world”, while applauding Rio’s vision and courage.
‘Angh’ was the only Indian film in this year’s 12-film Platform programme, TIFF’s sole juried competition. Its victory also makes it the first film from Nagaland to win an award at the festival.
Set in the early 1960s, the film follows Anghba, the last surviving chief of a remote Konyak village near the India-Myanmar border. He refuses to leave the deserted village and stays with his ailing wife and young son as outside influences begin to change the community’s traditional way of life.
An American missionary, played by BAFTA-winning Scottish actor Douglas Henshall, becomes part of that transformation. The film explores the father-son relationship while examining how conversion affects local culture.
The feature expands Rio’s 2021 short film of the same name, which won a Special Jury Award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival. Shot almost entirely in Konyak, the film uses a largely non-professional cast.
Because Nagaland has a limited professional film industry, Rio and his team travelled to villages to find performers who understood the world depicted in the film.
“We come from a region where the film industry is almost non-existent. So that meant we don’t have a lot of professional actors where we come from. We had to sort of go to the villages and street cast,” Rio told TIFF.
The cast includes Anghlong Konyak, Sobino Rengma, Genpai Konyak, Amah Konyak, Wangton Konyak and Henshall. Rio, 31, was born in Kohima, studied in Delhi and later graduated from the UK’s National Film and Television School.
The filmmaker shot ‘Angh’ on 16mm, with Adam Pietkiewicz serving as cinematographer. Pietkiewicz also won TIFF’s Variety Artisan Award for cinematography.
The film premiered at TIFF on 15 September before taking the Platform Prize five days later.
“It is a very special moment for me and for everyone associated with the film,” Rio said. He added that the recognition was especially meaningful because the team made the film with love for their homeland, people and culture.
The TIFF win also gives ‘Angh’ a separate route towards the Oscars. Under new rules for the 2027 Academy Awards, competition winners at six designated festivals — Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Toronto and Busan — can qualify for consideration in the International Feature Film category even if they are not their country’s official submission.
India’s official entry this year is the Marathi film ‘Gondhal’, selected by the Film Federation of India. ‘Angh’ can still enter consideration through its TIFF victory. The film was reportedly also among the final three considered by the Indian jury.
Meanwhile, Spain’s ‘La Bola Negra’ won TIFF’s People’s Choice Award. Directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, the film explores the intertwined lives of three gay men.
Peter Farrelly’s ‘I Play Rocky’ was the first runner-up, while Siân Heder’s ‘Being Heumann’ finished second runner-up. ‘Elsinore’ won the international People’s Choice Award, while ‘Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been’ took the documentary audience prize.
