Matt and Mara

media release:Canada | 2024 | DCP | 80 min.

Director: Kazik Radwanski

Cast: Deragh Campbell, Matt Johnson, Mounir Al Shami

Two former classmates reconnect in this perceptive and engaging portrait of a friendship that teeters on the edge of something more. Poetry teacher Mara’s settled down with a comfortable family life and steady job when her old college pal Matt (BlackBerry’s Matt Johnson, naturally funny as always) abruptly bursts back into her life and awakens part of her personality that’s gone dormant. Anyone can see these two have chemistry—strangers mistake them for a couple—and an impromptu road trip will test the depth of their connection. Matt and Mara perfectly captures the particular tensions and ambiguities of undefined relationships.

The Premieres series returns with more early and exclusive looks at the very best in current arthouse cinema! This fall kicks off with Sebastian Stan in A Different Man, one of the best films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, screening at the Cinematheque nearly a month before it hits theaters. For a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience, don’t miss Eno, a documentary portrait about the iconic musician which is digitally reconfigured every time it screens—the version you’ll see here on October 10 will never be shown again. Plus: wild new entertainments by boundary-pushing favorites Don Hertzfeldt, Harmony Korine, and Quentin Dupieux; equally adventurous and riveting nonfiction works by Mati Diop and Johan Grimonprez, and much more! This series was made possible by a generous donation from an anonymous cinephile.