Somewhere between Winnipeg and Tehran, three seemingly separate stories begin to intersect. Schoolgirls Negin and Nazgol discover money frozen beneath the winter ice and try to retrieve it. Tour guide Massoud leads a group of increasingly confused visitors through Winnipeg’s landmarks, while Matthew leaves his government job in Québec and travels home to see his mother. As their paths converge, geography, identity and time begin to blur.

Winnipeg-born writer and director Matthew Rankin reimagines his hometown as a place where Persian and French are spoken and the visual and storytelling traditions of Iranian cinema meet the familiar landscapes of Canada. Co-written with Ila Firouzabadi and Pirouz Nemati, Universal Language won the inaugural Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award at Cannes and was selected as Canada’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.

Universal Language is a warm, surreal comedy about home, belonging and human connection, playfully bringing cultures and places together to imagine a Canada where the distance between Winnipeg and Tehran feels much smaller.