Angh has been chosen for Toronto International Film Festival's Platform Competition.
Angh marks Theja Rio's feature debut.
Rio's short films have also been internationally celebrated.
Theja Rio's debut feature, Angh, is slated to premiere in the prestigious Platform Competition at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), capping a major milestone for cinema from Northeast India. The 2026 Platform line-up features 12 films from around the world. Platform is the festival's only competitive section.
A London-based writer and director from Nagaland, Rio has made a slew of internationally recognised short films including Checkpost (2018), Remains (2024), and Ade (On a Sunday) (2024). Rio's short films have already attracted considerable acclaim and notice on the festival circuit, including at Clermont-Ferrand, IndieLisboa, Rotterdam and Mumbai.
Angh marks his much-awaited feature directorial debut and an expansion of his 2021 short film by the same name. In 1960s Nagaland, a proud Konyak chief struggles to protect his dying traditions when an American missionary arrives with promises of aid that threaten his people’s identity. As his wife’s health deteriorates and famine looms, he and his mute son must make an impossible choice between survival and staying true to their ancestral ways. The production features an ensemble cast of first-time local actors from Nagaland and has been shot entirely on 16mm film. Rio has produced the film alongside Nancy Nisa Beso and Bernardo Angeletti through their respective banners Winter Hymns Films and Undercover Squirrel.
Under the new Oscar-submission rules, TIFF’s Platform strand also now serves as one of the six international film festival competitions that automatically qualify non-English-language films for the Best International Feature Film Oscar. The winning film of the TIFF Platform Award will land direct Oscar eligibility. Argentinian producer, director and writer Pablo Trapero will serve as the Platform Jury president. He will be joined by British writer-director Amma Asante, Taiwanese actor and filmmaker Sylvia Chang, French Canadian producer Luc Déry and Hong Kong film industry executive Albert Lee. Rio’s Angh is competing with an illustrious roster that includes Amanda Kernell’s Brace Your Heart, Ferit Karahan’s Djinn Wedding, Irene Dionisio’s Idda, Nyla Innuksuk’s In the Heart of the South, Bertil Nilsson’s Masc, Gabriel Martins’ On Behalf of My Son, Lawrence Fajardo’s Silenced Nights and John Trengove’s The Smell of Apples.
The 2026 edition of TIFF runs September 10-20.
