Nina Roza centres on Mihail, a Bulgarian immigrant living in Montreal who has built a successful career as an art curator. After leaving Bulgaria decades earlier, he has largely cut himself off from his past. The story begins when a wealthy art collector asks him to travel back to his homeland to authenticate the work of a mysterious young painter whose talent has gone viral online. The child, an eight-year-old girl named Nina, lives in a remote village, and her paintings have sparked debate in the art world about authenticity and genius.
The assignment forces Mihail to return to Bulgaria for the first time in thirty years. There he confronts unresolved memories and the emotional consequences of his departure from the country in the 1990s. The encounter with Nina gradually becomes more than a professional mission. Her presence reminds him of his own daughter, Roza, who was the same age when he emigrated, and the trip leads him to reconsider how his decisions shaped their fractured relationship.
Actor Galin Stoev, a well-known Bulgarian theatre director, plays Mihail in his first major film role. The cast also includes Chiara Caselli and Christian Bégin, reflecting the production’s international scope.
The narrative combines several themes—migration, artistic authenticity, and family memory—while exploring what it means to belong to more than one place. Dulude-De Celles has often spoken about her interest in characters who live between cultures, a theme that resonates strongly in Nina Roza.
During the film’s press conference at the Berlinale, the director explained that the story was inspired by reflections on identity and displacement. “I’m interested first of all in the human being,” she said, noting that both her documentary and fiction work seek “faces in which we can recognize ourselves.”
She also described the artistic world depicted in the film as a metaphor for care and responsibility. Referring to the profession of the protagonist, Dulude-De Celles remarked that “to curate means to take care,” a phrase that echoes through the film’s exploration of art and family relationships.
Nina Roza marks the second feature film from the Quebec-born filmmaker. Dulude-De Celles first gained international attention with A Colony (2018), a coming-of-age drama that premiered at the Berlinale’s Generation section and won the Crystal Bear for Best Film. Like Nina Roza, that earlier work focused on adolescence, identity, and the delicate process of personal transformation. The director has also worked extensively in documentary cinema, where she developed an observational style that emphasizes naturalistic performances and intimate storytelling.
Production on Nina Roza brought together companies from several countries, highlighting the increasingly international nature of European and Canadian filmmaking. Scenes were shot both in Montreal and in the Bulgarian countryside, visually contrasting Mihail’s adopted home with the landscapes he left behind decades earlier.
Nina Roza (Canada/Italy/Bulgaria/Belgium)
Director: Genevieve Dulude-de Celles
Cast: Galin Stoev, Ekaterina Stanina, Sofia Stanina, Chiara Caselli, Michelle Tzontchev
Produced by Colonelle films
Coproduced by Umi Films, Ginger Light (Bulgaria), Premier Studio, Echo Bravo
Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Centre
