Headfirst Editor's Pick
"This Cannes-lauded slice of cinematic enchantment offers us a window into a dreamlike retro-future Winnipeg where Farsi is the mother tongue. Littered with surreal humour and bizarre cultural artifice, Rankin’s act of “autobiographical hallucination” lands somewhere between Wes Anderson and Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami. It’s a visionary fable for a borderless world that demands to be seen. "
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A event held at The Cube on Sunday 23rd March. The event starts at 17:00.
Universal Language
Dir: Matthew Rankin, Canada, 2024, 89 mins, Farsi and French with English subtitles, Cert 18 (TBA)
Sun 23 March // 17:00
Tickets: £6
Space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave and echo into a surreal comedy of misdirection.
Join us for a screening of Matthew Rankin's latest masterpiece, Universal Language, a film that has captivated critics and festival audiences worldwide but remains a hidden gem in the UK. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see it on the big screen in Bristol!
In a mysterious and surreal interzone between Tehran and Winnipeg, Universal Language 2024 weaves together the lives of multiple characters with deadpan, absurdist charm reminiscent of Cube fave Kaurismaki.
Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol discover a bank note frozen in the winter ice, hoping to retrieve it to buy their classmate a new pair of glasses. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly befuddled tourists through Winnipeg's modest historic sites, and Matthew, in an autobiographical role, quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office to embark on an enigmatic journey to visit his mother.
Imagining a city where Farsi is the predominant language, Rankin's visually and narratively inventive film draws inspiration from 1970s Iranian cinema, blending humanistic children's fables with surreal, Tati-esque humor, set against the wintry, bleakly beautiful backdrop of Winnipeg.
Universal Language 2024 won the Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and was Canada's submission for the 2025 Oscars.
Entry requirements: 18+
Dir: Matthew Rankin, Canada, 2024, 89 mins, Farsi and French with English subtitles, Cert 18 (TBA)
Sun 23 March // 17:00
Tickets: £6
Space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave and echo into a surreal comedy of misdirection.
Join us for a screening of Matthew Rankin's latest masterpiece, Universal Language, a film that has captivated critics and festival audiences worldwide but remains a hidden gem in the UK. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see it on the big screen in Bristol!
In a mysterious and surreal interzone between Tehran and Winnipeg, Universal Language 2024 weaves together the lives of multiple characters with deadpan, absurdist charm reminiscent of Cube fave Kaurismaki.
Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol discover a bank note frozen in the winter ice, hoping to retrieve it to buy their classmate a new pair of glasses. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly befuddled tourists through Winnipeg's modest historic sites, and Matthew, in an autobiographical role, quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office to embark on an enigmatic journey to visit his mother.
Imagining a city where Farsi is the predominant language, Rankin's visually and narratively inventive film draws inspiration from 1970s Iranian cinema, blending humanistic children's fables with surreal, Tati-esque humor, set against the wintry, bleakly beautiful backdrop of Winnipeg.
Universal Language 2024 won the Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and was Canada's submission for the 2025 Oscars.
Entry requirements: 18+
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