Independent films
fromThe New Yorker
5 hours ago"Blue Heron" Is an Exalted Drama of Troubled Childhood
Sophy Romvari's 'Blue Heron' explores the emotional complexities of growing up with a troubled brother through a unique cinematic lens.
Artist and filmmaker Viv Li was born and raised in Beijing, but has lived abroad for 15 years-a fact that has inspired several of her films, in which she navigates identity politics and belonging. An alumna of the Sundance Institute and Berlinale Talents, her latest film 'Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest' is having its world premiere at the 2026 Berlinale, featured in the Panorama Dokumente section.
Written by Davies's older brother, Wale, the film follows two young brothers during Nigeria's 1993 Presidential election, which offered hope for democracy after a decade of military dictatorship. In the movie's first dramatic scene, achingly redolent of memory, the brothers-the older is eleven, the younger eight-loll in front of their family's house, snacking, grousing, playing with paper action figures, trying to fill the solitude and the silence around them with banter and bravado.