Sophy Romvari’s grief-soaked memoir of a family chapter, “Blue Heron,” premieres on the Criterion Channel on July 21 at 8 p.m. ET, with a home-video release from Criterion Premieres arriving in November.
A film can feel like a house you’ve left behind—until it suddenly opens its doors again.
That’s the feeling arriving for “Blue Heron,” Sophy Romvari’s intimate memoir of a movie, which begins streaming on the Criterion Channel on July 21 at 8 p.m. ET. It’s a date set for viewers ready to meet an older version of the story—and the grief that carried forward.
Romvari’s first feature will also get a home-video release from Criterion Premieres in November. Before that, the Criterion Channel is already carrying her previous short films.
In the late-1990s-set film. the groundwork is laid by eight-year-old Sasha and her Hungarian-Canadian family as her older brother’s behavioral issues upend their lives. Young Sasha is played by Eylul Guven. while Amy Zimmer portrays an older Sasha now working as a documentary filmmaker. looking back at one chapter in her family’s life to understand how traumatic events unfolded.
The pressure in childhood lands fast and hard through Jeremy—played by Edik Beddoes—whose dangerous and self-destructive impulses push his parents to the brink. Iringó Réti plays Sasha’s mother, Ádám Tompa plays her father, and it’s understood that Sasha and Jeremy share a different father.
As the story moves forward, the past and present collide in a time-stopping, unexpectedly metatextual flourish—one that turns the film into something closer to a personalized rumination on memory and grief.
The film’s theatrical life has already made its mark. Janus Films released “Blue Heron” in theaters earlier this year to a box office total of more than $580,000 in the United States.
That blend of personal history and cinematic invention is exactly what fans of films like “Aftersun” tend to recognize: “Blue Heron” uses filmmaking as a way of processing what lingers. In Locarno’s 2025 review. it’s described as a story where Romvari’s preoccupation with fractured identities “ambitiously expands to reflect how our incomplete memories can be filled in over time”—not simply by unlocking something forgotten. but by building understanding and empathy for the perspectives of those who shared the same time.
The same review adds the emotional close to the experience: if you’ve ever imagined trying to comfort your younger self—or your family—about an uncertain future, “Blue Heron” may be the most emotionally devastating film of the year and also perhaps the most comforting.
Criterion is also putting Romvari in the spotlight ahead of the premiere. A clip is shared from Criterion’s forthcoming “Meet the Filmmaker” interview, where Romvari discusses her experience as the only first-generation Canadian in her immediate family and how that shaped her work.
For the next wave of viewers, the entry point is clear: “Blue Heron” begins streaming on the Criterion Channel on July 21.
Blue Heron Sophy Romvari Criterion Channel Criterion Premieres Amy Zimmer Eylul Guven Edik Beddoes Janus Films July 21 8 p.m. ET