Indian filmmaker Theja Rio’s debut feature Angh has been selected for the Platform competition at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where it will have its world premiere.
Set in the remote jungles of Nagaland near the Indo-Myanmar border in the early 1960s, Angh is shot on richly textured 16mm film and tells the story of Anghba, the last surviving chief of an abandoned Indigenous Naga village. Living in isolation with his ailing wife and mute young son after being deserted by his people, Anghba struggles to preserve a disappearing way of life as the outside world gradually closes in.
The selection marks a significant international breakthrough for Rio, whose film draws deeply from the history, culture and landscape of Nagaland while employing an intimate visual style. By choosing to shoot on 16mm, the filmmaker lends the film a tactile quality that complements its exploration of memory, loss and cultural erasure.
Platform is TIFF’s competitive programme dedicated to distinctive auteur cinema. Named after Jia Zhangke’s 2000 film Platform, the section showcases films with strong directorial vision from emerging and established filmmakers alike. A jury awards the Platform Prize to one of the competing films at the end of the festival.
For Indian cinema, a Platform selection places Angh among one of the festival’s most closely watched competition line-ups, offering the film a prominent international launch before critics, distributors and audiences from around the world.
The 2026 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 10 to 20 in Toronto, Canada.
