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Universal Language film image; group of people standing in front of a building

Universal Language

Une langue universelle

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In a wintery, Farsi-speaking city that’s equal measures Winnipeg and Tehran, three narratives converge. Schoolchildren Negin (Rojina Esmaeili) and Nazgol (Saba Vahedyousefi) are tormented by a considerable sum of cash that’s encased in Manitoban-grade ice. Meanwhile, Massoud (co-writer Pirouz Nemati) shepherds a group of confounded visitors to tourist attractions such as the Kleenex Repository and the brutalist Beige District. Finally, Matthew Rankin (the film’s director and co-writer) abandons soul-crushing bureaucratic life in Quebec to reunite with his mother in this peculiar prairie outpost. As these storylines become comically entangled, the concepts of space, time, and identity grow increasingly opaque.

On the heels of The Twentieth Century (an absurdist, expressionistic reimagining of William Lyon Mackenzie King’s origin story), Rankin dreams a sophomore feature that’s every bit as deliriously entertaining and visually inventive but possesses considerably more emotional weight. While indebted to the meta-realist work of Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi, Rankin’s humorous, poetic fable establishes him as a singular voice in international cinema and reminds us that Winnipeg is indeed a wonderland.

 

Chantal Akerman Audience Award, Directors’ Fortnight 2024

Sept 28 & 29: Q&A with director Matthew Rankin, writer/actor Pirouz Nemati and producer Catherine Boily

 

Media Partner

Director
Cast

Rojina Esmaeili, Saba Vahedyousefi, Pirouz Nemati, Mani Soleymanlou, Matthew Rankin, Ila Firouzabadi

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2024

Language

In Farsi and French with English subtitles

Film Contact
G

Open to youth at International Village

19+

At Fifth Avenue

89 min
Award Winners Comedy Family Relations U18 May Attend
Metafilms

Book Tickets

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Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Pirouz Nemati, Ila Firouzabadi, Matthew Rankin, Dan Berger, Aaron Katz

Producer

Sylvain Corbeil

Screenwriter

Matthew Rankin, Pirouz Nemati, Ila Firouzabadi

Cinematography

Isabelle Stachtchenko

Editor

Xi Feng

Production Design

Louisa Schabas

Original Music

Amir Amiri, Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux

Matthew Rankin headshot; Universal Language director

Matthew Rankin

Matthew Rankin was born in Winnipeg and studied history at McGill and Université Laval. He is the director of some 40 short films and two features which have been presented at Sundance, SXSW, Annecy, TIFF, the Berlinale, Cannes Critics Week, Directors Fortnight, and on the Criterion Channel. His first feature, The Twentieth Century, was awarded the FIPRESCI prize of the international film critics at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival and the 2019 Best First Canadian Feature Award at TIFF. Universal Language, winner of the inaugural People’s Choice Award presented by the Chantal Akerman Foundation at the 2024 Cannes Directors Fortnight, is Matthew’s second feature. He lives in Montréal.

Filmography: The Twentieth Century (2019)

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