"Its boldly distinctive method is inseparable from its emotional vitality, and its audacious sense of form is as immediate and personal as the story it tells. It’s a memory-film that captures inner life with physical style: patience, speed, precision, and breathtaking leaps." - Richard Brody, The New Yorker
"A film whose quietly flooring opening frames of a vast landscape becoming home to a compassionate story of a Hungarian-Canadian family navigating an uncertain world together already signal it as a major work, writer/director Sophy Romvari’s intimate and incisive BLUE HERON only grows even greater from there." – Chase Hutchinson, The Wrap
This late-spring sleeper hit played the Siskel Film Center’s screens for three straight weeks. In the late 1990s, eight-year-old Sasha and her family relocate to a new home on Vancouver Island, but their fresh start is interrupted by increasingly dangerous behavior from the eldest son, Jeremy. At their wits’ end, Sasha’s parents are presented with a shattering choice. Partly based on events in her own life, director Sophy Romvari’s shape-shifting feature debut is a lyrical and profound testament to the things we carry with us, masterfully chronicling the haze of a languid summer and the hyaline clarity of the moments that defined it.
Awards & Nominations
2025 Locarno Film Festival - Golden Leopard
Be Kind, Rewind | December 11–31, 2026
Join us as we rewind the best and biggest films of 2026—from favorite titles that graced the Siskel Film Center’s screens to movies that thrilled audiences across the country. A mini-reflection on the cinematic year that was, BE KIND, REWIND surveys breakout features, new epics from established masters, barnstorming documentaries, and one highly anticipated restoration. As the final days of 2026 slip away, the Siskel Film Center invites you to consider what these films reveal not just about the movies of the year but about 2026 itself.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu