Telefilm Canada has selected Nina Roza, the sophomore feature from Quebec filmmaker Geneviève Dulude-De Celles, as Canada’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards, to be held in 2027.
The film follows Mihail, a man who left Bulgaria three decades earlier, sent back to assess the work of an 8-year-old Bulgarian artist whose viral videos have caught the eye of a major international collector, an assignment that turns into a reckoning with the past he thought he’d left behind.
The cast includes Galin Stoev, Sofia Stanina, Ekaterina Stanina, Michelle Tzontchev, Christian Bégin and Chiara Caselli, with dialogue in Bulgarian, Italian and French.
A four-country production with festival pedigree
Nina Roza is a co-production between Canada, Italy, Bulgaria and Belgium, led by Montreal’s Colonelle Films alongside Italy’s UMI Films and PREMIERstudio, Bulgaria’s Ginger Light, and Belgium’s Echo Bravo.
The film premiered in Official Competition at the 76th Berlinale, where Dulude-De Celles won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay.
Nina Roza went then on to win the Audience Award at the Sofia International Film Festival, with further stops at Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, Istanbul, Jeonju and Shanghai. It’s a significant follow-up for the director, who first drew attention with her 2018 debut A Colony, winner of a Crystal Bear at the Berlinale.
The selection came from a pan-Canadian committee of 24 industry professionals who reviewed 17 submitted films before settling on Nina Roza. That committee is convened by Telefilm Canada, the federal Crown corporation (founded in 1967 as the Canadian Film Development Corporation and renamed in 1984) that finances, promotes and supports Canada’s film and television industry, including through funds like the Canada Feature Film Fund.
Among its roles, Telefilm is responsible for choosing Canada’s annual Oscar submission in the international feature category. Telefilm CEO Julie Roy called the selection “a prestigious distinction that speaks to the excellence of this work,” while Dulude-De Celles said she was “both delighted and humbled by this honour.”
Nina Roza now needs to make the Academy’s international feature shortlist to remain in contention for a nomination when the 99th Academy Awards nominees are announced in early 2027.
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