Written and directed by director Matthew Rankin, the comedy presents a Persian-language-inflected Canada, getting at timely questions of homeland and belonging.

Matthew Rankin and his 'Universal Language' co-writers on mixing Kiarostami and Winnipeg absurdity for Canada's foreign language Oscar entry.

MATTHEW RANKIN: [Laughs.] Well, yes, I’m not a competitive person, I don’t have very great expectations from life. My parents really raised me to expect unrelenting disappointment from the ...

But director Matthew Rankin thinks more of audiences than that. His new film, “Universal Language,” was selected by Canada as the country's submission for the Oscars' international feature ...

Director Matthew Rankin's odyssey through a Winnipeg dotted with homages to Iranian film history - and featuring the coziest Tim Horton's ever designed - has the same title in English and French ...

It’s a chilly Tuesday morning, and director Matthew Rankin hasn’t slept in over twenty-four hours. “I feel like I’m going totally insane,” he admits as we sit down to discuss his new ...

Matthew Rankin, though, has gone more than a step, or maybe 85 steps, further. His “Universal Language” takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but the culture is entirely Iranian.

Matthew Rankin’s second feature is something of an anomaly on this year’s Oscar shortlist for International Feature Film. For one thing, it takes place in a world that doesn’t actually exist, positing ...

Matthew Rankin speaks onstage at the "Universal Language" premiere Q&A during the 62nd New York Film Festival at Walter Reade Theater on Oct. 7, 2024, in New York City.

But director Matthew Rankin thinks more of audiences than that. His new film, “Universal Language,” was selected by Canada as the country’s submission for the Oscars’ international feature ...

Matthew Rankin’s second feature is something of an anomaly on this year’s Oscar shortlist for International Feature Film. For one thing, it takes place in a world that doesn’t actually exist ...