Winnipeg-born director Matthew Rankin’s second feature Une langue universelle (Universal Language) will make its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival parallel section Directors’ Fortnight.

Une langue universelle is among 21 features and nine shorts from around the world selected for this year’s Directors’ Fortnight, which is run by French directors guild SRF (Société des réalisatrices et réalisateurs de films) and highlights bold and unique works.

The French- and Persian-language film is co-written by Rankin, Pirouz Nemati, and Ila Firouzabadi. Sylvain Corbeil of Montreal-based Metafilms is the producer.

Set in Tehran and Winnipeg, the surreal comedy follows the stories of four individuals — two who find a banknote stuck in ice and try to extract it, a guide who takes tourists around Winnipeg’s monuments and a Quebec government employee who quits his job to take a mysterious trip.

The cast includes Rankin, Mani Soleymanlou, Danielle Fichaud, Pirouz Nemati, Rojina Esmaeili, Saba Vahedyousefi and Sobhan Javadi.

Une langue universelle was shot in Montreal and Winnipeg. It is produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, SODEC and provincial tax credits from Quebec and Manitoba. Maison 4:3 is the Canadian distributor and will be releasing the film in the coming months, according to a news release.

International sales are handled by Brussels-based Best Friend Forever.

Une langue universelle is Rankin’s second feature after The Twentieth Century, which won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival.

The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will be held from May 14 to 25.

Image courtesy of Metafilms