Structured like a Venn diagram, Universal Language is at once a diary film, an absurdist city symphony and a welling-up of confinement-era emotion exploring the mysterious interzone where one person ends and the rest of the world begins. An elusive, half-remembered dream of home, solitude, our responsibilities to others, and the wild turkeys that haunt us.
Winter. Somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg. Negin and Nazgol find a large sum of money frozen deep within the sidewalk ice and try to find a way to get it out. Massoud leads a group of befuddled tourists upon an increasingly-absurd walking tour of Winnipeg monuments and historic sites. Matthew leaves his job at the Quebec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his estranged mother. Time, geography and identities crossfade, interweave and collide into a surreal comedy of misdirection.
Reviews
"A triumph of visual filmmaking" – Collider
"Formally precise and very funny" – Filmmaker Magazine
Accolades
SHORTLIST • Best International Feature (Canada) at the 97th Oscars®
Winner • Best Canadian Feature at the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival
Winner • FIPRESCI Award at the 2024 Viennale
Winner • Audience Award of Director's Fortnight at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival
As part of our See Change initiative, we strive to showcase the work of women and non-binary individuals and their behind-the-scenes involvement in a production.
This film is co-written and produced by Ila Firouzabadi, Edited by Xi Feng, produced by Rosalie Chicoine Perreault and Catherine Boily, and has cinematography by Isabelle Stachtchenko.
