Dekanalog takes US rights to Canada's Oscar hopeful 'Nina Roza'
Dekanalog has bought the US rights to “Nina Roza,” Canada’s contender for the international feature Oscar.
The New York-based independent distributor struck the deal for Geneviève Dulude-De Celles’s film, as reported by Variety on 24 September 2026. It covers cinemas and home viewing. No price was disclosed.
Dekanalog plans to open the film in US theatres in early 2027. A video-on-demand release will follow, alongside a Blu-ray debut. That sequence is standard for specialist titles. The cinema run comes first. Home formats come next.
The deal is for two films, not one. Dekanalog has also taken the US rights to “A Colony,” Dulude-De Celles’s 2018 feature. American audiences will be able to see the earlier film alongside the new arrival.
The awards path is set. Telefilm Canada, the organisation that chooses Canada’s Oscar entry, named “Nina Roza” as its pick on 25 August 2026, according to Telefilm Canada. It will seek a place in the Best International Feature Film category, the Academy Award for films made outside the United States, at the 99th Academy Awards. Seventeen films were considered for the Canadian slot, ScreenDaily reported.
Festival prizes helped its case. “Nina Roza” played in Competition at the Berlin Film Festival, the main line-up where the top awards are decided. It won the Silver Bear for best screenplay, the festival’s prize for writing, as listed by the Berlinale. The award went to Dulude-De Celles.
Industry buyers had seen it early. It screened as a work-in-progress in the First Look programme, a section for unfinished films seeking sales and finishing support, at the 78th Locarno Film Festival in 2025. Canada was the Focus Country for that edition of First Look, which drew more than 30 submissions. “Nina Roza” was presented there as a Quebec film.
It left Locarno with two wins. It took the Urban Post First Look Award and the Jannuzzi Smith Award. Those prizes go to projects still in post-production, which is the editing, sound and picture-finishing stage after shooting ends.
For fans, this means a wait. The US cinema release is dated for early 2027. The Oscar campaign comes first.
