Every week, Kristopher Pollard from Milwaukee Film and Radio Milwaukee’s Dori Zori talk about movies — because that’s what you do when you’re Cinebuds.
How much did everyone enjoy this year’s Milwaukee Film Festival? Well, the event drew nearly 37,000 theatergoers (a 15.4% increase from 2025) to watch 105 feature presentations and 138 short films, with 45% directed by women or nonbinary filmmakers.
More specifically, Dori and Kpolly had so much fun at the festival that they’re dedicating the first post-event episode of Cinebuds to one of the 2026 prize winners: Blue Heron, which won the Emerging Fiction Jury Award.
Making the achievement all the more impressive is the fact that this is the first feature-length film from director Sophy Romvari, who really put herself out there by basing this technically fictional story on her own life. The tale of an immigrant family facing the mental-health struggles of its eldest son is engaging enough, but what caught Dori and Kpolly’s attention is the 20-year timeline the film skips through while observing everything through the eyes of the youngest child.
Couple the beautiful cinematography with a mesmerizing story, and you’ve got an award-worthy film that — depending on when you read this — you still have time to catch at the Downer Theatre.
