Matt and Mara | |
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![]() Film poster | |
Directed by | Kazik Radwanski |
Written by | Kazik Radwanski |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Nikolay Michaylov |
Edited by | Ajla Odobaši |
Production company | MDFF Films |
Distributed by | The Cinema Guild |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Matt and Mara is a 2024 Canadian drama film, written and directed by Kazik Radwanski. [1] The film stars Deragh Campbell as Mara, a university professor in a troubled marriage to Samir (Mounir Al Shami), who unexpectedly reconnects with Matt (Matt Johnson), a man from her past. [2]
The cast also includes Simon Reynolds, Kinshuk Dhingra, Georgia Tannis, Jack Nguyen, Frances Howlett, and Linda Theresa Young.
The casting for the film was announced late 2020, [3] and the film went into production in 2022. [4]
It premiered in the Encounters program at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, [5] and had its Canadian premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. [6]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 86% of 14 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10. [7] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [8]
Wendy Ide of Screen Daily wrote that "Matt and Mara is one of those films in which very little concrete happens, but the tingling possibility that something might makes it compelling. The appeal is largely due to the casting – Cambell [sic] and Johnson have an undeniable chemistry that is magnified by the improvisational freedom of the picture’s approach. And the agile camerawork deftly captures not just the finely-honed details of both performances, but also the increasingly charged space between the characters." [2]
In a negative review, Sarah Manvel of Critic's Notebook noted, "[the film] could have been delicious. But in this form we are not even being served the cookie dough. All that's here is some raw ingredients with the hope we'll mix them ourselves." [9]
Guy Lodge for Variety wrote that "The fourth feature from Canadian writer-director Kazik Radwanski is an itchy, unsettled and often poignant relationship drama, consistent with his previous works not just in shared personnel — notably lead actors Deragh Campbell and Matt Johnson, who also headlined Radwanski’s 2019 breakout “Anne at 13,000 Ft.” — but in a tingly, seasick storytelling sensibility that makes something volatile and cinematic out of ostensibly static material." [10]
The film was named to TIFF's annual Canada's Top Ten list for 2024. [11]
How Heavy This Hammer is a 2015 Canadian drama film directed by Kazik Radwanski. The film had its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and its international premiere at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival.
Matt Johnson is a Canadian actor and filmmaker. He first attracted accolades for his low-budget independent feature films, including The Dirties (2013), which won Best Narrative Feature at the Slamdance Film Festival, and Operation Avalanche (2016), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Werewolf is a 2016 Canadian drama film directed by Ashley McKenzie and starring Andrew Gillis and Bhreagh MacNeil. It marks McKenzie's feature film directorial debut. The film premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, and subsequently received numerous accolades, including several Canadian Screen Award nominations, and the $100,000 Toronto Film Critics Association prize for best Canadian film of the year in 2017.
The 20th Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in film for 2016, were awarded on December 11, 2016, with the exception of the award for Best Canadian Film, which was presented on January 10, 2017.
Kazik Radwanski is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. His early short films have been cited as part of the New Canadian Cinema movement. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2012 with Tower. His second feature film, How Heavy This Hammer (2015), screened at film festivals around the world and received critical acclaim.
Sofia Bohdanowicz is a Canadian filmmaker. She is known for her collaborations with Deragh Campbell and made her feature film directorial debut in 2016 with Never Eat Alone. Her second feature film, Maison du Bonheur, was a finalist for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award at the 2018 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. That year, she won the Jay Scott Prize from the Toronto Film Critics Association. Her third feature film, MS Slavic 7, which she co-directed with Campbell, had its world premiere at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival in 2019. She has also directed several short films, such as Veslemøy's Song (2018) and Point and Line to Plane (2020).
The 44th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 September 2019. The opening gala was the documentary film Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, directed by Daniel Roher, and the festival closed with a screening of the biographical film Radioactive, directed by Marjane Satrapi.
Veslemøy's Song is a 2018 Canadian dramatic short film directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz. A continuation of her 2016 film Never Eat Alone, the film stars Deragh Campbell as Audrey Benac, a young woman attempting to research and recover the history of a largely forgotten female violinist and composer, Kathleen Parlow, who had taught Audrey's grandfather.
MS Slavic 7 is a 2019 Canadian drama film directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz and Deragh Campbell. It stars Campbell as a young woman who discovers a series of letters in a Harvard archive between her great-grandmother and a fellow Polish poet. The film derives its name from the library call number for the box that holds the letters.
Never Eat Alone is a 2016 Canadian drama film written and directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz. The film follows a lonely grandmother as she tries to reconnect with an ex-boyfriend from her youth.
Anne at 13,000 Ft. is a 2019 Canadian drama film. Directed and written by Kazik Radwanski, the film stars Deragh Campbell as Anne, a shy, socially awkward daycare worker whose attitude to her life and work is radically transformed after she skydives for the first time. It premiered in the Platform Prize program at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, and received an honourable mention from the Platform Prize jury. In December 2019, the film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list. After premiering on the festival circuit in 2019, the film's 2020 theatrical release was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tower is a 2012 Canadian drama film, written and directed by Kazik Radwanski. Radwanski's feature directorial debut, the film follows a socially awkward Torontonian named Derek. The film had its world premiere at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival, followed by its North American premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.
Deragh Campbell is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for her performances in independent Canadian cinema. Her collaborations with filmmaker Sofia Bohdanowicz—Never Eat Alone (2016), Veslemøy's Song (2018), MS Slavic 7 (2019), and Point and Line to Plane (2020)—have screened at film festivals internationally. Campbell has also starred in three of Kazik Radwanski's feature films; she played a small role in How Heavy This Hammer (2015), the lead role in Anne at 13,000 Ft. (2019), and opposite Matt Johnson in Matt and Mara (2024).
Michaela Kurimsky is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for starring in Jasmin Mozaffari's debut feature film, Firecrackers, which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. For her work on the film, Kurimsky received critical acclaim and won the award for Best Actress at the Stockholm International Film Festival.
Madeleine Sims-Fewer is a British-Canadian independent filmmaker and actress.
Point and Line to Plane is a 2020 Canadian dramatic short film directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz and starring Deragh Campbell. The film continues to follow the character Audrey Benac.
So Much Tenderness is a 2022 Canadian drama film, written, directed, produced, and edited by Lina Rodriguez. The film stars Noëlle Schönwald as Aurora, a lawyer from Colombia who emigrated to Canada as a refugee after her husband was murdered in mysterious circumstances, but whose efforts to comfortably settle into her new life are threatened when her cousin Edgar, who may have been involved in the murder, resurfaces.
Wildflower is a 2022 American coming of age comedy-drama film directed by Matt Smukler and written by Jana Savage, from a story by Smukler and Savage. It stars Kiernan Shipka, Dash Mihok, Charlie Plummer, Jean Smart, Alexandra Daddario, Reid Scott, Erika Alexander, Samantha Hyde, Brad Garrett, and Jacki Weaver.
Who Do I Belong To is a drama film, directed by Meryam Joobeur and slated for release in 2024. A coproduction of companies from France, Canada and Tunisia with the collaboration of Norway, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the film stars Salha Nasraoui as Aïcha, a woman in Tunisia whose son returns from fighting in Syria with him a mysterious woman, concurrently with a slate of strange disappearances in the village.
The 49th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 5–15, 2024.