Nagaland-set Angh secures coveted TIFF Platform berth

Calling the TIFF section “a tremendous honour”, Rio said: “Angh is a story about a people navigating the fragile passage from an ancestral past to an uncertain future. From the very beginning, I hoped the film would travel far beyond the land where it was born, inviting audiences not only into a story, but into the lives of people, their memories, and their relationship with the world around them.”

The co-producer and director believes that film festivals like TIFF have the power to bring underrepresented cultures into the global conversation. “For us, presenting Angh on this stage is about far more than the recognition of a debut feature. It is a moment of visibility for the people, culture, and storytelling traditions of Nagaland voices that deserve to be heard, seen, and celebrated by audiences across the world,” adds Rio, who has done masters in Directing Fiction at the National Film and Television School, UK.

Angh features BAFTA Award-winning actor Douglas Henshall (of Shetland and Outlander fame) alongside an ensemble cast of Indigenous actors from Nagaland. “Angh is shot on 16mm and performed almost entirely by non-actors from the region, in a tribal language spoken by fewer than one lakh people. This approach was not a stylistic gesture but a necessity.” shares Rio, who has directed several acclaimed short films, including Checkpost (2018) and Ade (2024).

Platform, TIFF’s auteur-driven competitive section, celebrates distinctive directorial voices. Beginning this year, the winner of the competition will automatically qualify for consideration in the Academy Awards’ International Feature Film category. The Platform lineup this year features 12 films, including 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, John Trengove’s The Smell of Apples, Yoon Dan-bi’s The World Before, and Jan Holoubek’s Wild Wild East. Children Untold, from Japanese filmmaker Miwa Nishikawa, will open the programme at TIFF Lightbox’s Cinema 1.

Producer Nancy Nisa Beso shares that Angh is the result of an overwhelmingly strong desire to tell stories that belong to Nagaland. “Angh is our attempt to honour our people, preserve the stories of our ancestors, and reclaim our narrative by taking it from the margins to the global stage. What made this journey particularly special was bringing together an extraordinary mix of talent from around the world to tell a story that is deeply rooted in the land, history and culture of Nagaland.”

The film’s international crew includes Polish cinematographer Adam Pietkiewicz, Lisbon-based production designer Margarida Caetano Dias and costume designer Manisha Garg. Makeup designer Priya Lahon has taken special care to ensure authentic depiction of traditional tattoos from Nagaland while Bendang Walling has put together a remarkable ensemble of Indigenous actors. Co-written by James Davis, Angh is produced by Winter Hymns Film and Undercover Squirrel.