UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE Trailer: Lives Bizarrely Intersect in Matthew Rankin’s Absurdist Comedy

After stunning moviegoers with his bizarre 2019 fantastical comedy The Twentieth Century, writer-director Matthew Rankin returns with a surreal look at the interconnectedness of people from different worlds. Universal Language centers on intersecting storylines that take place in Tehran and Winnipeg with its protagonists on their own personal missions, but whose lives will blend into one another’s under odd circumstances. It stars Rankin as a version of himself, alongside Pirouz Nemati, Rojina Esmaeili, Danielle Fichaud, and Sobhan Javadi. Rankin also co-wrote it with co-star Nemati and Ila Firouzabadi. The film had its world premiere at this year’s Cannes where it won the first-ever Directors Fortnight Audience Award. It will also be screening at TIFF and NYFF this fall. Ahead of its release early next year, an official trailer has arrived from Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Here’s the official synopsis:

In a mysterious and surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, the lives of multiple characters interweave with each other in surprising and mysterious ways. Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly befuddled tourists through the monuments and historic sites of Winnipeg. Matthew quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office and sets out upon an enigmatic journey to visit his mother. Space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave, and echo into a surreal comedy of misdirection.

Universal Language will open in theaters February 2025 following its festival runs. Check out the trailer below.

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