Sophy Romvari
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Los Angeles: The Movie-Watching Capital of the World
Moviegoing in Los Angeles has never been better, at least not in the 13 years I’ve lived in the city. When covering Slamdance’s move from Park City to LA last year, I listed a host of these either new or newly expanded theatrical offerings. In the year since, American Cinematheque, the undisputed king of repertory cinema in the city (at least in terms of scale), has acquired the historic Village theater in Westwood, with plans to re-open it next year. And Kristen Stewart’s recent purchase of the Highland Theatre is particularly exciting, especially considering that it’s located only one mile […]
by Caleb Hammond on Apr 29, 2026 -
Northern Exposure: Chandler Levack and Sophy Romvari Chat Mile End Kicks and Blue Heron
Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks and Sophy Romvari’s Blue Heron make time travel feel possible. Levack retreats into the beer-drenched, laissez-faire vibe of Montreal’s indie rock scene circa 2011; Romvari reflects on her Hungarian immigrant family’s domestic struggles on Vancouver Island in the late 1990s. In Mile End Kicks (Sumerian Pictures), 23-year-old Grace (Barbie Ferreira) is an avatar for Levack, a music critic at a Toronto alt-weekly who leaves her bro-dominated publication for a creative summer in Montreal. She’s supposed to write a short book for the 33 ⅓ series about Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill. Instead, Grace loses herself […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 16, 2026 -
“Personal Storytelling, Experimentation, and a DIY Spirit”: A Look Inside LAFM 2026
Returning for its third annual edition, the Los Angeles Festival of Movies boasts a lineup of critical darlings from other festivals, newly-restored global cinema, and even the odd world premiere. Co-founded by Sarah Winshall, producer behind indie gems like I Saw the TV Glow and Good One, and Micah Gottlieb, artistic director of the programming non-profit Mezzanine, LAFM was created in part to respond to a dearth of indie film exhibition in the metropolis. From April 9 through 12, L.A.’s east side will serve as a watering hole for filmgoers in a city that, while integral to the filmmaking ecosystem at large, has been […]
by Natalia Keogan on Apr 9, 2026 -
“Emotional Time Travel”: Sophy Romvari on Blue Heron
Canadian-Hungarian filmmaker Sophy Romvari draws inspiration from memories across her acclaimed shorts, while also conjuring up a whole new (cinematic) world to shield them from the passage of time. After Nine Behind, Remembrance of József Romvári and Still Processing, Blue Heron is a fully staged narrative following a Hungarian family of six moving into their new home on Vancouver Island. With the promise of a clean start, they try to rewrite the family history in present tense—an effort seen through the experiences of the youngest child, Sasha (Eylul Guven). Jeremy (Edik Beddoes), the oldest, is affectionate and gentle towards her, […]
by Savina Petkova on Sep 8, 2025 -
My Job During a Pandemic: Producing 100+ DVDs and Blu-rays in 2020
When I left Kino Lorber’s office on Friday, March 13th, I was expecting to return on Monday. I was wrapping up the DVD and Blu-ray of Jia Zhangke’s I Wish I Knew (2010), getting final proofs of Adam Nayman’s booklet essay and waiting for the test molds (the final check disc the replicator sends for approval before the title goes into manufacturing) to come in. But then the lockdown hit, and the scramble to improvise and adapt to the situation. One of my colleagues lives nearby our office, so he shipped the I Wish I Knew test molds to our […]
by R. Emmet Sweeney on Feb 10, 2021 -
Exquisite Shorts, a New Model for Online Shorts Programming, Launched by Sophy Romvari
Canadian filmmaker Sophy Romvari (who’s previously written for Filmmaker) has announced the launch of a new online short festival. Exquisite Shorts is designed to create a new model for shorts filmmakers, paying them for their work while enabling the public to watch for free. The newly launched crowdfunding campaign explains how online screenings will work: Filmmaker 1 → Picks a short film from a pool of submissions that they love, that inspired them, or that they feel could use a platform. The filmmaker making the selection will record a video introduction that will play prior to their selected film, which will […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jul 29, 2020 -
Where Do I Go From Here?
I’ve had depression described to me as an obsession with the past, anxiety as a fixation on the future. In my experience with both, this has proven to be accurate. With my filmmaking, I feel in control, but when it comes to my own life and my influence over my mental health, often feel powerless. When framing a shot, there is a desire to capture a moment in time—emphasizing the particular light, the diegetic sounds, perhaps a slight breeze. This process is not unlike attempting to ground myself through meditative mindfulness: noticing my surroundings in detail, trying not to let […]
by Sophy Romvari on Dec 10, 2019 -
True/False 2018: What Can the Documentarian Do?
In 1976, German screenwriter/producer Peter Märthesheimer wrote the punchily titled essay “What Can the Hero Do? He Can Change the World! A Few Problems Concerning Drama Production.” He began: Many television plays, good and bad, have come about because a drama producer or script-writer has said at some time or other, ‘Something ought to be made about…’ Then a so-called ‘theme’ usually follows, a ‘problem’ which the person who thought it so serious that he wanted to ‘make something about it’ considers relevant […] Now there would be nothing against this approach, which cautiously and discerningly commits itself to the […]
by Vadim Rizov on Mar 14, 2018
