Universal Language will be Canada’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2025 Academy Awards.
In a press conference, Telefilm Canada revealed that its pan-Canadian Selection Committee chose the Metafilms-produced title out of a total of 26 eligible submissions. Directed by Winnipeg-based Matthew Rankin (The Twentieth Century), Universal Language is an absurdist comedy-drama set in a surreal interzone between “Tehran and Winnipeg.” The French and Persian film follows the interweaving lives of multiple characters, including two gradeschoolers who try to claim frozen money, a man who leads a tourist group through historic sites in Winnipeg and another man who leaves his Quebec government job to visit his mother.
Notably, Universal Language has already garnered rave reviews during the international press circuit. At its world premiere in Cannes in May, it won the program’s first Audience Award, and at the Melbourne International Film Festival this month, it took home the top prize, the Bright Horizons Award.
Universal Language will have its Canadian premiere at TIFF next month ahead of a planned January 31st, 2025 theatrical release across the country. Producer Sylvain Corbeil also confirmed during the press conference that the team has also partnered with distributors around the world to release in nearly 50 countries, with talks for additional markets underway.
A total of five non-American films from around the world will be selected for Best International Feature Film. Last year’s winner was The Zone of Interest, a U.K. film from Jonathan Glazer about a German family during the Holocaust.
The 97th Academy Awards will be held on March 2nd, 2025. The nominees aren’t expected to be announced until January, so Universal Language has several months to win over voters as screenings expand worldwide.
Image credit: Metafilms
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