UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
New South Wales Premiere
Directed by Matthew Rankin | 2024 | 89 mins | Canada | UNCL 18+ | In Farsi, English with English subtitles
Awards & Festivals
2024 Cannes Film Festival
2024 Melbourne International Film Festival — Bright Horizons Award
2024 Toronto International Film Festival — Best Canadian Discovery Award
Loopy, funny and heartwarming, Universal Language is an oddball delight.
Absurdist and surrealist, Universal Language literally defies genres and simple explanation – set in an alternate version of Winnipeg, which feels and sounds more like Tehran, with the Farsi language curiously at home amongst the grey skies and snowy plains of Canada.
Possessing a curious rhythm all of its own, Universal Language moves along three narrative rails: two sisters happen upon some stolen money; a disinterested tour guide takes a befuddled collection of visitors through Winnipeg; and Rankin himself plays a man who returns home to care for his mother, who is in the cruel grip of encroaching old age.
SCREENING WITH SHORT FILM:
CUT SHORT
Directed by Tim Ross | 2024 | 17 mins | Australia | UNCL 18+
Actor Tim Ross turns writer/director in this story set in remote outback Australia, where two strangers are brought together under unique circumstances. Starring Tim Potter and Inner West’s own Ben Mingay
