Universal Language

AroView: The Middle East meets West in this wholly original cultural satire from Canada that imagines Winnipeg as an eerie Farsi-speaking interzone that is at once recognizable and alien.

Director Matthew Rankin’s distinctive vision offers a dryly comic expression of the refugee experience staged across three loosely connected stories in an alternate reality that might only exist in the minds of its characters. The title is also a sly reference to the bridging of cultures through the cinema and its history, itself a stylistic product of the poker-faced absurdity of Aki Kaurismaki, the surrealist satire of Roy Andersson, and the gentle humanism of Abbas Kiarostami. Alongside all three of these influencers this can stand proud. ★★★★

“A magnificent film, one that feels warm and familiar even as we realize just how startlingly original it is.” ~Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine (Vulture)

“Blending autobiographical elements with heartfelt homages to Iranian cinema, writer-director Matthew Rankin’s charmingly surreal comic fable reimagines Canada as a Farsi-speaking dreamland.” ~Stephen Dalton, The Film Verdict

“Universal Language might just be my favourite film of 2025. It is one of the greatest examples of looking-for-love-in-a-parallel world I’ve seen.” ~Graeme Tuckett, The Post

“★★★★★ The viewer’s soul feels truly full by the film’s end. One of the finest films you can see in cinemas this year”. ~Tom Augustine, View Magazine