Angh, a Konyak-language film from Nagaland has won the Platform Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, opening a separate route to Oscar consideration alongside India’s official selection for the 2027 Academy Awards.This naga film, the feature debut of filmmaker Theja Rio, became the first Indian film to win TIFF’s Platform Award on September 20. A five-member jury honoured it for its “refreshing perspective, strength of filmmaking, and deeply resonant portrait of a world,” along with a CAD 20,000 prize.The win gives Angh a direct path into Oscar consideration under a new Academy rule introduced in May 2026, which allows films to enter the Best International Feature Film category by winning one of six specified festival awards, including TIFF’s Platform Award.India’s official Oscar submission remains the Marathi film Gondhal, selected by the Film Federation of India. Angh had been among the final three films considered for that slot alongside Gondhal and Ikkis before missing out. The TIFF win has given it an alternative route without needing the official selection.Neither film is nominated yet. Both must clear the Academy’s eligibility review before competing for one of 15 shortlist spots, to be announced on December 15. Five nomination slots follow.Set in 1963 Nagaland, Angh follows an ageing Konyak village chief and his son as an American missionary arrives and their world begins to shift. Shot on 16mm with Indigenous Naga actors, it stars Anghlong Konyak alongside British actor Douglas Henshall of Shetland. Rio, a graduate of the UK’s National Film and Television School, won Best Film at MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in 2023 for his short Ade.India has reached the Best International Feature Film final five just three times — Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan. A village in 1963 Nagaland may be where the next attempt begins.