In the heartfelt drama Nina Roza, writer-director Geneviève Dulude-De Celles traces the journey of Mihail (Galin Stoev), a Bulgarian contemporary art curator living in self-imposed exile in Montreal, as he returns to his homeland for the first time in 28 years.
When eight-year-old Nina, a girl from a village near Sofia, goes viral for her paintings, Mihail reluctantly travels there to determine whether she is the real deal. Once he arrives, painful memories resurface, and Nina’s potential future serves as a parallel to his own past.
Joseph Marchand’s choral score and the striking landscapes complement Mihail’s melancholy and grief. The story feels so authentic that one might assume it is drawn from personal experience. The fact that it is not is a testament to Dulude-De Celles’s strength as a writer, and it comes as no surprise that she won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay. The film is likely to resonate most strongly with expatriates.
