Shortlisted for Best International Feature at Acadamy Awards 2025!
In a mysterious and surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, the lives of multiple characters interweave with each other in surprising and mysterious ways.
Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly-befuddled tourists through the monuments and historic sites of Winnipeg. Matthew quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office and sets out upon an enigmatic journey to visit his mother.
Space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave and echo into a surreal comedy of misdirection.
Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly-befuddled tourists through the monuments and historic sites of Winnipeg. Matthew quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office and sets out upon an enigmatic journey to visit his mother.
Space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave and echo into a surreal comedy of misdirection.
Director
Matthew Rankin was born in Winnipeg and studied history at McGill and Univerité Laval. He is the director of some forty documentary, fiction and animation films which have been presented at Sundance, SXSW, TIFF, Annecy, the Berlinale, the Dawson City International Short Film Festival and at Cannes Critics Week. His first feature, The Twentieth Century (2019), was awarded the 2020 FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlinale. He lives in Montréal.
Cast & crew
CAST
Rojina Esmaeili
Saba Vahedyousefi
Sobhan Javadi
Pirouz Nemati
Matthew Rankin
Mani Soleymanlou
PRODUCER
Sylvain Corbeil (The Nature of Love, Falcon Lake, It’s Only the End of the World, Felix and Meira)
Festivals and awards
- DIRECTORS' FORTNIGHT 2024 - WINNER AUDIENCE AWARD
- TIFF
- MELBOURNE IFF - BRIGHT HORIZONS AWARD
- NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL
- FANTASTIC FEST
- FESTIVAL DU NOUVEAU CINEMA MONTREAL - OPENING FILM
- BUSAN FILM FESTIVAL
“The best movie at Cannes this year is an oddball Canadian comedy. Universal Language is a magnificent film.”
“A beguiling, surrealist ode to Persian cinema… Diorama-like compositions that will call to mind both Wes and Roy Anders(s)on... The world of Universal Language feels lived-in, and those lives feel consequential. It’s like nothing I’ve seen in Cannes this year.”
“Matthew Rankin channels the best of Iranian Cinema in absurdist Canadian comedy... Backdrops that recall the locations in Jacques Tati’s ‘Playtime... And yet, if Rankin counts Abbas Kiarostami among his influences, this project proves he’s ready for his “Close-Up.”
“One of the most exciting directors working today, with his unique visual style and penchant for challenging narrative conventions indicating a bright future as a filmmaker… A tremendously captivating comedy.”
