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.

There’s a notion in the film industry that comedies don’t travel. Jokes have a regional audience, and humor gets lost in translation, the thinking goes. But director Matthew Rankin thinks more ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images ...

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 ...

On the heels of its world premiere at Cannes, Matthew Rankin‘s comedy Universal Language has been named as Canada’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy ...

There's a notion in the film industry that comedies don't travel. Jokes have a regional audience, and humor gets lost in translation, the thinking goes. But director Matthew Rankin thinks more of ...

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 ...

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 ...