Universal Language

Winner of the Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Matthew Rankin’s follow-up to the audacious The Twentieth Century (LIFF 2019) is a delightfully off-beat exploration of cultural identity set in a reimagined Canada. Iranian culture is transplanted into the snowy surroundings of Winnipeg, where Tim Hortons is a Persian Tea House, and Farsi and French are the national languages. Paying loving homage to the masters of Iranian cinema, Rankin evokes the films of Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi, while creating a unique cinematic language, making Universal Language one of the most original and distinctive films of the year.