Indie filmmaker Albert Nerenberg knows how to raise a ruckus. He took on stupidity (or more specifically, how humans—Jessica Simpson, say—wilfully resist intelligence) in 2003’s documentary of the same name; interviewed pot-smoking, peace-loving, gay-marrying Americans in 2004’s Escape to Canada; corralled a gaggle of fake celebrities onto the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival four years ago; and founded the spoof film-trailer phenomenon Trailervision. This time around, for his doc Let’s All Hate Toronto, he travelled with fellow director Robert Spence, capturing the vitriolic diatribes of Hogtown haters from coast to coast. To the befuddlement of onlookers, Nerenberg and Spence went so far as to stage Toronto Appreciation Day—complete with an eye patch–wearing, T dot–boosting MC called Mister Toronto (played by Spence), “Let’s All Love Toronto” T-shirt giveaways and a “Toronto Appreciation Day” banner—in various downtowns. Here, Nerenberg on what he learned and why Toronto’s not so bad after all.

How long have anti-Toronto sentiments been around?

In the film we jokingly suggest that Toronto’s been resented from the beginning. It’s probably true. In 1796, when Toronto was just a collection of huts in a muddy swamp, the capital of Upper Canada was moved here from Niagara-on-the-Lake, and people didn’t understand why. A government official said Toronto was more suited to frogs than people.

Who hates Toronto most now?

A lot of people would guess Montreal, but the answer is Vancouver. They feel the Leafs, a chronically underperforming team, are always being foisted on them. It seems superficial, but it’s a metaphor for a larger thing—that this mediocre city is force-feeding its culture to the rest of the country. Toronto and Vancouver need to talk. They have issues.

Did you share these perceptions before you moved here nine years ago?

That’s how I felt. Coming from Montreal I also heard that Toronto’s a cold, mean city. But I take my baby daughter all over town, and almost everywhere I go there are people interacting with her. Toronto just needs an excuse. It wants to be a social city.

What was the strangest reaction to Toronto Appreciation Day?

We were in Edmonton during the Stanley Cup final and, despite everyone’s warnings, we didn’t die or get hurt. People played along; a group of drunk Oilers fans ran through the streets with our banner. Some threw it down like it was infected with leprosy, but a bunch of them were really sweet.

Let’s All Hate Toronto screens at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival (Apr. 19 to 29).