Members Only: Universal Language

Director: Matthew Rankin

2024 / 89min / DCP

Join Metrograph for a special Members Only screening of absurdist triptych Universal Language with director Rankin in attendance for a post-screening Q&A with co-writer/producer Ila Firouzabadi, moderated by David Ehrlich.

In a mysterious and surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, the lives of multiple characters intersect in surprising and mysterious ways. Gradeschoolers Negin (Rojina Esmaeili) and Saba Vahedyousefi) find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, Massoud (Pirouz Nemati) leads a group of increasingly befuddled tourists through the monuments and historic sites of Winnipeg. Matthew (Rankin himself) quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office and sets out upon an enigmatic journey to visit his mother. Space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave and echo into a surreal comedy of misdirection.