Universal Language masterfully balances surreal comedy and moving drama to tell a story of belonging.
In May of 2024, Universal Language held its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award. After playing at the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival, the film held its final festival stop at the 25th Kingston Canadian Film Festival (KCFF). It screened on Feb. 28 and March 1 with director Matthew Rankin in attendance.
The film was selected as Canada’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2025 Academy Awards. It was the first Canadian film to be shortlisted for this category since 2016.
Universal Language was co-written by Ila Firouzabadi, Pirouz Nemati, and Rankin, each bringing their own linguistic and cultural backgrounds to the project. Firouzabadi and Nemati, both born in Iran, wrote the sections that are in Farsi, while Rankin, a Winnipeg native, wrote the sections that are in French.
“This is a movie I made with my best friends. It’s an expression of our friendship,” Rankin said while introducing the film at the Feb. 28 screening.
Set in an alternate version of Winnipeg, Universal Language imagines a Canada where the official languages are Farsi and French. The setting also appears to be frozen in the 1980s, lending a distinctive, colourful aesthetic to the story.
“It might be in the past. It might be right now. We don’t know where it is.” Rankin said. “It’s Iranian poetic realism, Winnipeg surrealism, and Quebecois melancholy fused into one.”
At a director’s during KCFF’s Industry Day, Rankin described the film as a series of short stories that have an unlikely connection between them.
The film’s ensemble cast of characters include a tour guide named Massoud who shows off his favourite parking lots and apartment buildings, two sisters trying to take money out of a frozen block of ice, a child who claims his glasses were stolen by a turkey, and a man returning to his hometown to reconnect with his mother. As the film progresses, the stories begin to overlap in of both similar themes and encounters between the different characters.
While the film’s structure is unconventional by never focusing on a single protagonist, it never feels jarring, providing a dreamlike quality to the story. The film flows slowly and follows its own internal logic, rather than being concerned with realism.
From the start, it’s clear Universal Language is a surreal film. Turkeys and donkeys roam the streets of Winnipeg, surrounded by cold, brutalist architecture and harsh weather. However, beneath the cold exterior is a warm film about community, friendship, and belonging.
This film expertly balances absurd comedy and effective drama. At times, it had the entire theatre laughing, while at others, the film is silently devastating. Despite the often bizarre events, it never loses sight of the characters, their desires, and their journeys.
There’s a deep sense of melancholy present throughout each of the short stories. The film is composed of long silences and characters who dwell on their past decisions. The setting gives the impression of a place frozen in the past, and a desire to hold onto the childhood memory of one’s hometown—a feeling anyone living away from their hometown can relate to.
Universal Language is highly personal with characters and events pulled from Rankin’s own life. The tour guide, Massoud, was inspired by Rankin’s father, shown through the character’s enthusiasm and his municipal pride for Winnipeg.
The story of the man, Matthew, returning home to Winnipeg—played by Rankin himself—draws from the filmmaker’s own experience spending much of his life away from his hometown.
“When you live in two places at once, your sense of belonging grows. That’s the space where the film operates,” Rankin said during the post-screening Q&A.
Rankin also spoke about the Iranian films that inspired Universal Language. Rankin and his co-writers were drawn to films about children dealing with adult problems, such as Where Is My Friend’s House? (1987), The White Balloon (1995), and A Simple Event (1973).
Beyond being about the struggles of children, each of these films include moving acts of kindness. This is reflected in Universal Language, which is built around kindness, friendship, and community instead of interpersonal conflict.
Hilarious, deeply personal, and wholly unique, the film succeeds as an homage to Iranian cinema, as well as a celebration of the mundane things that make somewhere home.
Now playing in theatres across Canada, Universal Language is opening at The Screening Room on March 7.
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