10/02/2026 - The Belgian sales agent will be wielding a solid line-up, including Geneviève Dulude-De Celles’ title selected in competition and works showcasing in the Panorama and Generation sections

After taking part in last year’s festival with the Ukrainian documentary Timestamp [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kateryna Gornostai
film profile], Brussels-based sales agent Best Friend Forever is making its way back into the Berlinale competition with Geneviève Dulude-De Celles’ new feature film, Nina Roza. The Quebec-born filmmaker is no stranger to Berlin, having presented her debut feature, A Colony, at the German gathering back in 2019, where it won the Crystal Bear in the Generation 14plus section. Her new film begins with a viral video of an eight-year-old Bulgarian painter whose talent borders on prodigious. This little girl is spotted by a Montreal-based art collector who sends his employee to Europe to assess the painter’s work. But this employee hasn’t returned home in 30 years, and he soon finds himself facing the ghosts of his past. The film is a co-production between Canada (Colonelle Films), Italy (UMI Films), Bulgaria (Ginger Light) and Belgium (Echo Bravo).

Best Friend Forever will also be pinning its hopes on animation to make an impression in the Generation section. First up is the Japanese title Chimney Town: Frozen in Time by Yusuke Hirota, which is a follow-up to the original hit Poupelle of Chimney Town, which was a hit at the Japanese box office. The film is produced by Eiko Tanaka, a former Studio Ghibli collaborator, for Studio4°C, who were behind the recent work ChaO, which won the Jury Prize in Annecy. The other animated title in the sales agent’s line-up, Papaya by director Priscilla Kellen, hails from Brazil. With over 15 years’ experience in Brazilian animation (she notably worked on Boy and the World, awarded the Crystal for Best Feature Film and the Audience Award in Annecy 2014), Kellen is now presenting a story aimed at very young audiences about a tiny papaya seed which has to move continuously in order to avoid taking root in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

In 2025, Best Friend Forever unveiled a Ukrainian documentary about daily life in wartime, including in the school setting. This year, the sales outfit is bringing another documentary to the Panorama line-up: A Russian Winter by French director Patric Chiha, who’s a regular in this particular section where he previously presented The Beast in the Jungle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Patric Chiha
film profile] in 2023, If It Were Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Patric Chiha
film profile] (winner of the Teddy Award) in 2020, and Brothers of the Night [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2016. Following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many Russians were faced with a stark choice: prison, the army, or exile. Between Paris and Istanbul, a group of young exiles composed of Margarita, Yuri and their friends, try to find their place in a world which no longer seems to belong to them.

Best Friend Forever has also just expanded its European Film Market (EFM) slate by way of Conrad & Crab – Idiotic Gems [+see also:
film review
interview: Claude Schmitz
film profile] by Claude Schmitz, which bowed at IFFR at the end of January, as well as French actor Alexandre Steiger’s debut feature, L’Ecologie des sentiments, and another French debut, Fief, by Thomas Vernay.

(Translated from French)