Naga filmmaker Theja Rio's adaptation of his own award-winning 2021 short film, Angh, has been selected for the International Feature Film category for the Oscars 2027 after winning the prestigious Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Angh is the 31-year-old director's debut feature. He took a step further in the film to expand the horizon he had explored in a short film of the same name, which won a special jury award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 2021.
"We have been carrying Angh with us for many years... and through all of it, we held on to the belief that this was a story we had to tell, and that we had to tell it on our own terms," producer Nancy Nisa Beso said.
"It is a very special moment for me and for everyone associated with the film. I am aware that it is rare for a debut film to receive this kind of recognition, and all I can say is that we made Angh with a lot of love-for the place I come from, for my people and for our culture," Kohima-born Rio said on Sunday after the announcement.
Set in the 1960s, the film is almost entirely in Konyak.
"To see Angh connect with audiences beyond our own community has been deeply moving. I want to thank the jury for recognising our work and for giving us the opportunity to represent our country and our culture on two of the world's most prestigious stages-TIFF's Platform Competition and, soon, the Academy Awards as well," he added.
The Platform jury commended the film for "its refreshing perspective, strength of filmmaking, and deeply resonant portrait of a world."
While national bodies nominate films for the International Feature Film section, this is the first time that the Academy is directly accepting competition winners from six global festivals, including TIFF.
The film explores the themes of ethnicity being threatened by the incursion of a missionary at a deserted Nagaland village.
Meanwhile, Marathi thriller Gondhal, directed by Santosh Davakhar, will represent the country in the Best International Feature category at the 99th Academy Awards ceremony. The filmmaker won the Silver Peacock Award at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2025
