Blue Heron
Wednesday September 23, 2026 7:00 pm
Canada/
PG
“Delicately devastating … Its layered, time-collapsing complexity belies the moving emotional simplicity it summons.”
Jessica Kiang, Film Comment
Set in the late 1990s, Blue Heron traces the life of eight-year-old Sasha, her three brothers, and her parents as the young Hungarian family sets down roots on Vancouver Island. The eldest child Jeremy is withdrawn, and his mental health challenges lead to increasingly erratic and dangerous behaviour that disrupts family life. As emotionally poignant as it is formally adventurous, Romvari’s semi-autobiographical debut is a sensitive portrayal of the fallibility of childhood memory and the special bond of sibling relationships. Topping mid-year best-of-2026 film lists by Rolling Stone, Variety, and IndieWire, to name a few, Blue Heron has been justifiably acclaimed.
In English and Hungarian with English subtitles
First Feature Award
Locarno 2025
“[A] remarkable and formally daring drama, one of the strongest directorial debuts to come along in some time … Blue Heron is an epic exploring the power and fissures of memory. But there is no chance that audiences will ever forget what Romvari has accomplished here.” Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail
“A reminder of the power of filmmaking to turn the deeply personal into relatable art, and an announcement of a major talent, one who has made the best film of the year to date.” Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
Post-screening discussion with Beverley Anderson, a registered social worker, and Sara Wylie, a producer on Blue Heron.
Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, series director.
Sara Wylie is a filmmaker, producer, and researcher from the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (aka Vancouver, BC). Her work focuses on archives and counter-archives, disabled ecologies, and crip intimacies. As a director, Sara’s award-winning short documentary and experimental films have screened at film festivals around the world. As a producer, Sara has worked on award-winning short and feature films, most recently producing Sophy Romvari’s lauded debut Blue Heron.