Matthew Rankin’s absurdist triptych UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE was the winner of major awards at Cannes, Toronto, and Melbourne Film Festivals.

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. Two grade-schoolers find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, tour guide Massoud (Pirouz Nemati) leads a group of increasingly befuddled tourists through the monuments and historic sites of Winnipeg. Matthew (played by director Matthew Rankin) quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office and sets out upon an enigmatic journey to visit his mother. As each of these stories unfold, space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave and echo into a surreal comedy of misdirection.

Various languages, English subtitles.