The Indian film taking Nagaland to global cinema
The Indian film 'Angh', directed by Theja Rio, has gained international acclaim after winning the Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Konyak-language film, which features a first-time cast, is now eligible for consideration at the 2027 Academy Awards.
Why it matters
This win highlights the emergence of regional, indigenous-language cinema on the global stage and demonstrates how new festival rules are diversifying Oscar eligibility.
Share Save Add as preferred on Google Zoya Mateen BBC News, Delhi Watch: Indian film brings a rarely seen world to global cinema There is something pleasingly improbable about Angh.
The film comes from Nagaland, a mountainous state of fewer than two million people on India's northeastern frontier, and is in Konyak, a tribal language unfamiliar to most Indians, never mind audiences abroad. It was director Theja Rio's first feature and most of its cast faced a camera for the first time.
And yet, at the Toronto International Film Festival this month, this quiet film won the Platform Prize, a major juried award.
The award is intended to recognise films with a particularly distinctive directorial voice. The jury praised Rio's "refreshing perspective" and the film's portrait of a world rarely encountered on the international screen.
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