Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language has won the top prize at the 30th Geneva International Film Festival.

The Reflet D’or for Best Feature comes with a cash prize of $10,000 Swiss francs, or about C$15,850. The jury was led by writer-director Carmen Jaquier along with four film students from Swiss schools.

The surrealist comedy is written and directed by Rankin, co-written by Pirouz Nemati and Ila Firouzabadi and produced by Metafilms’ Sylvain Corbeil. The film follows three seemingly unrelated characters and their stories in a world where Farsi is the primary language in Canada.

The win adds another feather to Universal Language‘s cap in Oscars race, following its selection to represent Canada for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. The film has also won the Best Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival; the Bright Horizons Award at the Melbourne International Film Festival; the Best Canadian Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival; and the first-ever Audience Award at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.

Maison 4:3 is distributing the film in Quebec, while levelFILM handles the rest of Canada.

The VR short film Oto’s Planet won the Reflet D’Or for the Best Immersive Experience, which came with the same cash prize. The English and French-language film, written and directed by Gwenael François, hails from Luxembourg’s Skill Lab, France’s Small Creative and Montreal’s Dpt. In 2022, the short received funding from the Canada Media Fund and Film Fund Luxembourg.

Earlier this year, Oto’s Planet won the Immersive Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival.

Image courtesy of Metafilms