#FIRSTLOOK: “UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE” SHORTLISTED FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM AT ACADEMY AWARDS

MAISON 4:3 and Metafilms are pleased to highlight that the film UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, directed by Matthew Rankin, has just taken an important step in the race for the Oscar for Best International Film by being selected in the shortlist of nominees. Having celebrated its world premiere at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes in Cannes last May, where it was awarded the Chantal Akerman prize, UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE has been selected for 90 film festivals across the globe, winning 15 awards to date. The film was honoured at the Toronto International Film Festival as Best Canadian Discovery and the Bright Horizons Award at the Melbourne International Film Festival. UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE has been sold in more than 30 countries and will be released in theatres across Canada beginning January 24, 2025, in Matthew’s hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The film stars the filmmaker himself, as well as Mani Soleymanlou (MY BROTHER’S WIFE, BEFORE THE CRASH), Danielle Fichaud (ALINE), Pirouz Nemati (ANOTHER WORD FOR LEARNING) and newcomers Rojina Esmaeili, Saba Vahedyousefi and Sobhan Javadi, for the first time on screen.

Somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg. Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to get it out. Massoud leads a group of confused tourists through increasingly more absurd monuments and historic sites in Winnipeg. Matthew quits his job at the Québec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his mother. Time, geography and personal identities crossfade, interweave and collide into a surreal comedy of disorientation.

Co-written by Matthew Rankin, Pirouz Nemati, and Ila Firouzabadi, UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE is Matthew Rankin’s second feature film following the acclaimed TWENTIETH CENTURY, which won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2020 Berlinale. Shot in French and Persian in Montréal and in Winnipeg, the film is produced by Sylvain Corbeil for Metafilms with the participation of Telefilm Canada, SODEC and provincial tax credits from Québec and Manitoba. International sales are handled by BFF. Oscilloscope Laboratories distributes in the United States.

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE is distributed in Canada by Maison 4:3 and will be released theatrically on January 24, 2025, in Winnipeg, with other major cities to open in the weeks following. The Toronto Film Critics Association will announce the winner of the Rogers Canadian Film Award in a gala event on February 24, 2025.

ABOUT MAISON 4:3

Maison 4:3 is a film distribution company founded in 2014. A boutique distributor, the company leverages its experience and knowledge of the independent film space to implement launch strategies and support for filmmakers at all stages of development and release. Maison 4:3 is passionate about deeply human projects that are both meaningful and unique.

ABOUT METAFILMS

Metafilms is a production house based in Montreal founded in 2003 to offer young, unique authors the means to express their vision of cinema and the world. To date, Metafilms has produced 23 feature-length, 28 short and medium-length films, as well as 7 music videos. All the films have been widely distributed in prestigious international festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Locarno, Sundance, Toronto, San Sebastian, Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary, etc.), acclaimed (Jury Prize at Cannes for MOMMY, (Silver Bear at the Berlinale for VIC + FLO SAW A BEAR), (Best Canadian Feature Film at TIFF for FÉLIX AND MEIRA), (Jury’s coup de coeur prize at Cannes for LA FEMME DE MY BROTHER), (Canada’s choice for the 2024 Oscars for ROJEK), (César for Best Foreign Film for SIMPLE LIKE SYLVAIN) with sales all over the world. Very recently, Metafilms has been developing an emerging creators program with Rosalie Chicoine Perreault and Catherine Boily.

#FIRSTLOOK: “UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE” CANADA’S SELECTION FOR OSCARS INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Universal Language is representing Canada in the nomination process for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards®, to be held on March 2, 2025. The film is directed by Matthew Rankin, written by Matthew Rankin, Pirouz Nemati and Ila Firouzabadi and produced by Metafilms. It is being distributed in Canada by Maison 4:3. International sales are handled by Oscilloscope Laboratories.

“This year’s film submissions brilliantly showcase the exceptional talent that makes Canada shine. Universal Language by director Matthew Rankin has been selected by a jury of industry peers to represent Canada in the race for the Oscar® for Best International Feature Film,” says Julie Roy, Executive Director and CEO of Telefilm Canada. “This film is emblematic of our national cinematography: with the success it has enjoyed since its launch at Cannes, no matter what the language, it reaches audiences here and abroad. That’s the power of cinema! We wish Matthew Rankin, Sylvain Corbeil and the entire creative team the best of luck!”

“We are amazed by this improbable selection and we will do our very best to represent Canada at the Oscars,” said director Matthew Rankin. “Universal Language is an expression of very great collective joy between myself and my friends Pirouz Nemati, Ila Firouzabadi, Sylvain Corbeil and all the beautiful and hilarious people who created this strange, triangle-shaped, Irano-Winnipego-Québécois brain which became our film, beh naamé doosti (in the Name of Friendship).”

Universal Language, which world premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, will have its North American premiere at TIFF on September 10, 2024. The film stars Rojina Esmaeili, Saba Vahedyousefi, Pirouz Nemati, Mani Soleymanlou and Matthew Rankin.

As the appointed non-voting chair of the committee, Telefilm Canada organizes the annual pan-Canadian Selection Committee for Canada’s submission to the Best International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards®.

The vote was determined by a pan-Canadian committee of industry organizations and guilds, as well as filmmakers and industry professionals appointed to represent organizations. Twenty-six films were submitted for consideration as Canada’s Choice this year. The committee met the morning of August 27th to select the film.

So far, nine countries have submitted their entries for the Best International Feature Film category. Last year, 88 countries submitted a film. 

Key dates:

September 20, 2024 – Theatrical release date of Universal Language
October 2, 2024– Deadline for country submissions for the Best International Feature Film category
December 17, 2024 – Academy shortlist of 15 titles selected to move forward.
January 17, 2025 – Academy Award® nominations announced
March 2, 2025 – Academy Awards® ceremony
 

About Universal Language

Synopsis :

Winter. Somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg. Negin and Nazgol find a large sum of money frozen deep within the sidewalk ice and try to find a way to get it out. Massoud leads a group of befuddled tourists upon an increasingly-absurd walking tour of Winnipeg monuments and historic sites. Matthew leaves his job at the Québec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his estranged mother. Time, geography and identities crossfade, interweave and collide into a surreal comedy of misdirection.

Structured like a Venn diagram – at the point of confluence between Jacques Tati and Abbas Kiarostami’s Koker Trilogy – Universal Language is at once a diary film, an absurdist city symphony and a welling-up of confinement-era emotion exploring the mysterious interzone where one person ends and the rest of the world begins. An elusive, half remembered dream of home, solitude, our responsibilities to others and the wild turkeys that haunt us.

About Canada in the Best International Feature Film category at the Oscars®  

In the history of the Oscars®, eight Canadian films have been official nominees in the Best International Feature Film (formerly known as the Best Foreign Language Film category): in 2013, Rebelle, by Kim Nguyen; in 2012, Monsieur Lazhar, by Philippe Falardeau and In Darkness, by Agnieszka Holland (a minority coproduction with Poland and Germany); in 2011, Incendies, by Denis Villeneuve; and, in 2007, Water, by Deepa Mehta. The list also includes three films by Denys Arcand: Le Déclin de l’empire américain, in 1987, Jésus de Montréal, in 1990 and, in 2004, Les Invasions barbares, the only Canadian film to have won the Oscar® in this category.  

About the selection process for the Best International Feature Film category 

Telefilm Canada coordinates and chairs the pan-Canadian Selection Committee, without voting right. The committee comprises some 10 members representing key government agencies and national film industry associations. Each of them may appoint a representative to the jury, in accordance with Academy rules. It is responsible for choosing the film that will represent Canada at the Oscars®, which accepts only one film per country for the Best International Feature Film category.

Academy rules were modified in 2023, specifying that juries must include a minimum of 50% craftspeople that are currently active in the film industry. Jury members must screen all submissions before participating in a virtual conference to evaluate and vote on which film will best represent Canada at the Oscars®. Jurors are encouraged to consider the quality of the films, as well as their international competitiveness.

Submitted films must have been produced outside the United States in a language of at least 51% other than English and must have been theatrically exhibited in the submitting country for at least seven consecutive days between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024.

About Telefilm Canada  

As a Partner of Choice, Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation dedicated to the success of Canada’s audiovisual industry, fostering access and excellence by delivering programs that support cultural resonance and audience engagement. With a lens of equity, inclusivity and sustainability, Telefilm bolsters dynamic companies and a range of creative talent at home and around the world. Telefilm also makes recommendations regarding the certification of audiovisual coproduction treaties to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and administers the programs of the Canada Media Fund. Launched in 2012, the Talent Fund raises private donations which principally support emerging talent. Visit telefilm.ca and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/Telefilm_Canada and on Facebook at facebook.com/telefilmcanada.