TORONTO — Toronto’s Matt Johnson and Kazik Radwanski say Canadian filmmakers aren’t taking nearly enough risks.

The star and writer-director of the relationship drama “Matt and Mara” say many homegrown movies that land at the Toronto International Film Festival are treated with “kid gloves” by local critics.

Their film stars Johnson as a novelist who wanders back into the life of his now-married ex, played by Toronto’s Deragh Campbell.

In keeping with Radwanski’s style, the film had no formal script, with actors improvising the dialogue and figuring out the story organically during the shooting process.

Johnson, who directed the critically acclaimed “BlackBerry,” says he’d like to see Canadian filmmakers push more creative boundaries.

TIFF runs until Sunday.

Radwanski and Johnson are often hailed as key figures in the new wave of Canadian cinema. They’ve each claimed the Toronto Film Critics Award for past work — Radwanski in 2020 for “Anne at 13,000 ft.” and Johnson in 2023 for “BlackBerry.”

However, they suggested that this year’s TIFF lacks a strong presence of young filmmakers from Canada daring to break new creative ground.

“I just think Canadian films are treated with kid gloves and I think the critics are too nice to them in Canada,” says Johnson.

“I think that the festival’s too nice to them. I think they program too many Canadian films and the ones that get programmed often are just middling. Very medium. How to fix that? I don’t know. I’m not going to be the guy that says, ‘Let’s play less Canadian films at TIFF.’ Really, what I want is for Canadian filmmakers to just be more daring and do more crazy stuff.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.

Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press