Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language feted in Melbourne

Canadian filmmaker Matthew Rankin’s latest feature, Universal Language, has won the Bright Horizons Award at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF).

The award comes with AU$140,000 (about C$128,000) in prize money, which the Festival claims is one of the most “lucrative film prizes globally,” in a news release.

Winnipeg-born, Quebec-based Rankin, was in attendance to accept on Aug. 24.

Universal Language is co-written by Rankin, Ila Firouzabadi and Pirouz Nemati; it is produced by Sylvain Corbeil from Montreal’s Metafilms and distributed in Canada by Maison 4:3. The U.S. distributor is Oscilloscope and its international sales agent is Best Friend Forever.

The film, set somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, takes place in a surrealist world where Farsi is the primary language in Canada. The film follows three seemingly unrelated characters and their stories. It stars first-time actors Rojina Esmaeili, Saba Vahedyousefi and Pirouz Nemati with Mani Soleymanlou (Survivre à ses enfants) and Rankin himself as a provincial employee in Quebec.

The absurdist comedy premiered in the Cannes Film Festival parallel section Directors’ Fortnight, where it won the inaugural Audience Award. The film will have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Bright Horizons Award, a jury-voted award given to first or second-time feature directors was launched in 2022. MIFF has been held since 1952, making it one of longest-running film festivals.

Universal Language marks Rankin’s second feature following his 2019 surrealist film The Twentieth Century, which premiered at TIFF and won Rankin the Best Canadian First Feature Film Award.

Photo courtesy of MIFF