I saw Our Hero, Balthazar at VIFF last year and wrote about it then. I called it one of the only truly contemporary films we have because it understands the internet generation in a way most films only attempt to. I sang its praises to anyone who would listen; online, in person, to randoms on the street. The most common question I got for months was some version of “where can I watch that movie?” And I didn’t have a good answer, because like most festival films, I wasn’t sure it would ever see the light of day. Especially not in Canada.

Canada, after all, is usually last in line. If something cool is happening in American cinema, we may get a taste of it six months later, or not at all. A big part of what we’re trying to do at ODDCRITIC is to change that, to prove there’s a demand in Vancouver for more provocative art, and to help bring it here.

The path to getting Our Hero, Balthazar here was hardly straightforward. When writer/director Oscar Boyson was shopping it around to big distributors, the feedback was consistent: they loved it, they just couldn’t—or didn’t want to—risk marketing it. Then Peter Gold saw something different. Gold, an emerging producer, recognized an opportunity where others saw uncertainty, and chose the film as the launch title for his distribution company WG Pictures. 

Still ahead of a wide release, OHB already outranks every title on the 2026 slates of Warner Bros, A24, Netflix, and more, with a 94% aggregate on Rotten Tomatoes, and their social campaign has become the most-followed of any film this year with 113K followers. Most of that momentum came from the ground up, spreading because it resonated with an audience who showed up for the film long before the film officially showed up for them. Finally, it’s coming to Canada.

The film is about young people who are profoundly alone, two boys on opposite ends of the cultural spectrum, both drowning in the same digital isolation. What Boyson and WG Pictures understood, maybe instinctively, is that the audience for a film like this is looking for connection and belonging just like the characters are. 

That understanding is the entire architecture of how this film has been marketed and rolled out. Instead of a traditional multiplex footprint or a paid media blitz, they built an ambassador program of real people in real communities, made up of students, creatives, and film-loving young people.

Ambassadors are welcomed onto the team and given a tangible role in expanding the film’s reach. They become a crucial part of the live experience by selling merch, moderating Q&As, putting up flyers, and filming social content. For a story about people struggling to find connection, it has created countless opportunities for exactly that. It’s community infrastructure, which sounds like a simple idea until you realize almost no one else does it. 

More importantly, the success of the Our Hero, Balthazar grassroots campaign goes beyond an indie film finding its audience. It demonstrates a growing appetite for cultural experiences rooted in community, where people are treated like participants instead of consumers.

“This is my first time being part of a team where everyone’s ideas are being listened to and supported so openly! I have met so many amazing friends through this program, and it’s given me the chance to step outside of my comfort zone and explore my creative side in ways I’ve never done before.”

—Chevlynn Smith, ambassador from Los Angeles

The energy fuelled by the ambassadors has made every screening its own event. Boyson and members of the cast and crew show up to nearly every opening screening on the tour, holding post-show Q&As with moderators including Eugene Kotlyarenko, Karsten Runquist, Jeb McCormick, Ethan Cutkosky, and Caleb Simpson. The film has also picked up co-signs from artists Gen Z actually cares about, from Halsey (also an executive producer) and Kevin Abstract to Julia Fox and Ivy Wolk. In 2026, that’s worth more than any trade review.

The online strategy comes from the same desire to connect, and the most obvious move turned out to be the smartest one: be Balthazar. The @Bboymalone212 Instagram account invites people deeper into the world of the film’s protagonist, played by Jaeden Martell. Because social media is already woven into the character’s identity, the profile feels authentically Balthy rather than a manufactured brand campaign. It just crossed 100,000 followers—more than most studio-backed film accounts—by posting the way Balthazar would, the way most Gen Zs do.

The account churns out fan-edit-style videos of Balthy and Solly (Asa Butterfield), pairing clips of the complicated friendship between incel and influencer with songs like “drop dead,” “girl, so confusing,” and “Fame is a Gun.” They lean into the homoerotic tension between the two by giving them the Call Me By Your Name and Heated Rivalry treatment, and even creating a micro-discourse over Butterfield’s twink death. They capitalized on release of The Drama—another film that tapped into the school shooter culture—and encouraged a Barbenheimer style double feature. But it’s Balthy’s signature crying videos that are the most viral, rallying his followers to support him in the fight for our lives. #BALTCOIN. #MaleLonelinessEpidemic. #BALTVIRUS.

Inevitably, it’s created its own ecosystem. Fan accounts, fan art, and oomfie friendships are being made as we speak. The comment sections of both @Bboymalone212 and @ourherobalthazar are flooded with requests for Balthy to come to their city. This kind of fandom is usually reserved for franchise blockbusters and number-one-trending Netflix shows. For a limited release indie, it’s unprecedented. That organic, fan-driven demand is what helped carry the film across international borders.

The upcoming Canadian tour will continue with the same playbook of ambassador-led, community-first, event-cinema. The screenings kick off in Vancouver at The Rio Theatre, a local institution with a track record of showcasing transgressive, daring work that the mainstream pipeline wouldn’t touch and bringing the community together around it. Then the film will head east to Ottawa, Toronto, even Hamilton. More cities will get their day, you just have to prove it by showing up.

The distributors who passed on it missed the point entirely; the audience was always going to market it themselves, they just needed to be let in first. Come be part of it.

VANCOUVER | BUY TICKETS
June 8 6:30pm at The Rio Theatre
Screening + Q&A with Oscar Boyson

TORONTO | BUY TICKETS
June 14 5:45pm at The Fox Theatre
Screening + Q&A with Oscar Boyson

HAMILTON | BUY TICKETS
June 15 6:45pm at Playhouse Cinema
Screening + Q&A with Oscar Boyson

OTTAWA | BUY TICKETS
June 17 6:30pm at Bytowne Cinema
Screening + Q&A with Oscar Boyson