BLUE HERON
Feature Film
Written and Directed by Sophy Romvari
Canada/Hungary (Nine Behind Productions / Boddah)
Starring Iringó Réti, Adam Tompa, Eylul Guven, Edik Beddoes, Amy Zimmer
Produced by Ryan Bobkin, Sara Wylie, Gábor Osvath
World Premiere, Locarno Film Festival - WINNER, Swatch First Feature Award
North American Premiere, Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - WINNER, Best Canadian Discovery Award
Multiple other international awards. Released by Janus Films in 2026.
In the late 1990s, eight-year-old Sasha and her Hungarian immigrant family relocate to a new home on Vancouver Island. Their fresh start is interrupted by increasingly dangerous behaviour from Jeremy, the family’s oldest child.
See imdb
"How I Shot That: Indiewire's Camera Survey of the Top Fall 2025 Films"
"Sophy Romvari’s Debut Feature Is a Splintered, Shattering Memory Piece" - Guy Lodge, Variety
"Wonderfully shot by cinematographer Maya Bankovic with precise editing by Kurt Walker, the film is a sensory experience that authentically captures how the memories we have from our youth often come from ephemeral sights and sounds. It makes BLUE HERON into a work both rigorously detailed and enduringly compassionate." - Chase Hutchinson, The Wrap
"In this first half, Romvari proves herself a striking visual artist, working with the spectacular cinematographer Maya Bankovic to film scenes of troubled domesticity from the distance of a child or even an observer outside the family. The camera peers through trees or windows, never quite framing the image like a melodrama would, but shaping the pain of this family through the lens of memory." - Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
"This Year’s Toronto International Film Festival Has Its First Masterpiece" - Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
"Beginning with the very first, pitch-dark shot from inside a moving van gradually illuminated as the tailgate lifts to reveal the family’s new home, director of cinematography Maya Bankovic emphasizes what cannot be seen just as much as what can." - David Robb, Slate Magazine
"Sophy Romvari’s Outstanding Debut Feature Explores the Imperfections of Memories" - Josh Slater-Williams, IndieWire
"A film that so deftly wields the best qualities of cinema to shake tightened emotions, one can scarcely escape without exposing their own personal pain." - Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com
"The most moving film of the year." - Saffron Maeve, The Globe & Mail