A triptych of interweaving vignettes set in an imagined location reminiscent of Tehran and Winnipeg. Schoolchildren Negin and Nazgol find money frozen in the winter ice; tour guide Massoud leads a flummoxed group of tourists around the monuments of Winnipeg; Matthew quits his government job to visit his mother.
With nods to both Iranian New Wave cinema and the tradition of absurdist comedy, Universal Language is a whimsical satire that engages wit, deadpan lyricism, and formal rigor to examine themes of connectivity and the universal need for recognition.
Winner Director's Fortnight Audience Award 2024, Cannes Film Festival, 2024, fr
Winner Best Canadian Discovery Award, Toronto International Film Festival, 2024, ca
Winner Arthouse Cinema Award, Hamburg Film Festival, 2024, de
Winner Film Forward Competition, Thessaloniki Film Festival, 2024, gr
Matthew RANKIN
Matthew Rankin (1980, Canada) is a director and editor. After studying history at McGill and Université Laval, he travelled to Iran to learn filmmaking. His work has been shown at numerous venues including Sundance, SXSW, TIFF, the Berlinale, Cannes, and the Criterion Channel. His feature debut, The Twentieth Century (2019), received the FIPRESCI Prize at the Viennale. Universal Language is Rankin’s second feature-length film.
