Title: Universal Language

Director: Matthew Rankin

Year: 2024

Country and language: Canada, French/Persian

Genre: Drama/surreal comedy

Australian distributor: Wonderfilm Pty Ltd

Set in an alternate reality, where Farsi/Persian rather than English is one of Canada’s official languages (the other remains French), this film follows a number of people whose stories occasionally converge. The film has won many film festival awards, including at Cannes, Melbourne, Toronto and Vancouver.

From Roger Ebert’s review: “The visual tone of Universal Language is … subdued, often poetic, with long-distance static shots that engulf the characters in this drab universe … with most of the pops of colors coming from children’s coats or the teal-tiled turkey store … Despite its subdued nature, Universal Language is rife with jokes and visual humor, including a fake ’80s-style commercial selling turkeys, a cemetery by the highway teeming with trucking horns and speeding cars, an Iranian reimagining of Tim Hortons … Universal Language is both culturally specific to Winnipeg and Tehran but, true to its title, quite universal in the emotional undercurrent of its triptych.”

Join us at the Bundy at 7pm, BYO drinks and dinner, or help yourself to snacks and a cuppa (gold coin donation). Membership payments on the door (cash/card) or in advance via Trybooking.