Angh

Angh (2026)

In 1960s Nagaland, a proud Konyak chief struggles to protect his dying traditions when an American missionary arrives with promises of aid that threaten his people’s identity. As his wife’s health deteriorates and famine looms, he and his mute son must make an impossible choice between survival and staying true to their ancestral ways.

Date of release
2026-09-13
Runtime
1h 44m
Genres
Drama, History
Director
Theja Rio

Casting

Interesting facts

Angh is a 2026 Indian Konyak-language drama film directed by Theja Rio, in his feature debut, co-written with James Davies and expanded from his 2021 short film of the same title. It centres on a small Konyak Naga family in the 1960s who are the last remaining residents of their otherwise abandoned former village in Nagaland, but whose devotion to the traditional culture of their people is challenged by the arrival of a Christian missionary from the United States.

Production

The film finds its origins in a short film that Theja Rio wrote and directed in 2019. Thereafter, encouraged by its reception at festivals in 2021, he developed a feature-length adaptation. Subsequently, several collaborators, including writing, production and cinematory teams were recruited from Rio's alma mater National Film and Television School, UK.

Douglas Henshall's casting as the missionary was announced in April 2025, with the remainder of the cast comprising local amateur actors from Nagaland, including Anghlong Konyak, Amah Konyak, Genpai Konyak, Sobino Rengma and Wangton Konyak. Rio and his team searched through villages in the Mon region of Nagaland for performers. The actors portraying the father and son, Anghlong Konyak and Sobino Rengma, are unrelated.

Cinematographer Adam Pietkiewicz, known for Baby Reindeer 2024, shot the film on 16 mm film to evoke the texture of archival photographs and footage of Naga communities from the 1950s and 1960s.For production, two village sets were built in Nagaland . Principal photography took place in the village of Thekrejüma for almost a month, followed by seven days in Phesama, also in Kohima district.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended