Collider recently put together a list of the best movies of 2026 that you haven’t heard of yet. Blue Heron, a drama that was written and directed by Sophy Romvari, took the number one spot on the list. The film was theatrically released in the United States in 2026 and won the Best Canadian Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival as well as the Swatch First Feature Award at the Locarno Film Festival.
The story follows “the memories of Sasha, the young daughter of a Hungarian immigrant family who relocate to Vancouver Island and deal with the increasingly dangerous behavioral issues of their oldest son, Jeremy.”
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When Romvari spoke during an episode of IndieWire’s “Filmmaker Toolkit” podcast, she said, “I really wanted to show someone trying to unravel their own life.” She also revealed that the film is semi-autobiographical, inspired by her late brother.
“The mystery of [Jeremy in the film] is important because I think it’s significant to anyone who has had a person like this in their family to address the fact that you can’t always know them,” she explained. “You can’t actually access who they are because sometimes people don’t want to be seen or understood. They don’t allow you in, and that’s part of what my experience was, just the frustration of never really having access and never really understanding.”
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She continued, “I really wanted it to feel also like one of those conversations that you’ve had with your parents a thousand times. She asks, ‘What do you think is wrong with Jeremy? Why do you think he’s like this?’ And then, 20 years goes by, and they’re still having that same conversation.”
Blue Heron currently has a 98% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. As one reviewer said, “Blue Heron felt incredibly intimate and real to me. A tender, heartbreaking look at grief that lets the quiet moments breathe instead of overexplaining every emotion.” Another said, “Very realistic portrayal of mental illness in a young person and how it affects an entire family. Brilliant directing, cinematography, acting.”