Matt and Mara (9+)

Mara renews her friendship with Matt What do you do when you run into an old acquaintance? That's what Mara, literature professor in Toronto, wonders when Matt, buddy from student days, stands in front of her. Intense portrait of a friendship that is just short of a love affair, not previously seen in the Netherlands.

In Matt and Mara, Mara, literature professor struggling with the things of life - there is a new baby demanding attention, husband Samir seems absent - meets an old acquaintance: her best friend from college, the charismatic, somewhat neurotic writer Matt.

After getting reacquainted, the two spend a lot of time together; they make silly jokes, have intense conversations, alternately repel each other, attract each other. What is the nature of this friendship? How little is it removed from an (adulterous) love affair?

Matt and Mara is the fourth feature-length film by Canadian director Kazik Radwanski (1985). For his portrait of a When Harry Met Sally-like friendship, he allowed lead actors Deragh Campbell and Matt Johnson (star actors in Radwanski's abrasive character study Anne at 13,000 Feet) to partially improvise freely. The dynamic handheld camera is right on the two friends, capturing all the nuances in a friendship-that-is-no-relationship.

Matt and Mara got its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, in the important Encounters section (now discontinued). Radwanski's film was also named Best Film of the Las Palmas Film Festival.