Written and directed by director Matthew Rankin, the comedy presents a Persian-language-inflected Canada, getting at timely questions of homeland and belonging.

Matthew Rankin and his 'Universal Language' co-writers on mixing Kiarostami and Winnipeg absurdity for Canada's foreign language Oscar entry.

There’s a notion in the film industry that comedies don’t travel. Jokes have a regional audience, and humor gets lost in translation, the thinking goes. But director Matthew Rankin thinks more ...

Director Matthew Rankin's odyssey through a Winnipeg dotted with homages to Iranian film history - and featuring the coziest Tim Horton's ever designed - has the same title in English and French ...

Matthew Rankin’s second feature is something of an anomaly on this year’s Oscar shortlist for International Feature Film. For one thing, it takes place in a world that doesn’t actually exist, positing ...

Sam Heughan is returning to the San Diego Comic-Con with an Outlander panel. Plus, Blood of my Blood and Spartacus panel ...

Matthew Rankin speaks onstage at the "Universal Language" premiere Q&A during the 62nd New York Film Festival at Walter Reade Theater on Oct. 7, 2024, in New York City. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images ...

It’s a chilly Tuesday morning, and director Matthew Rankin hasn’t slept in over twenty-four hours. “I feel like I’m going totally insane,” he admits as we sit down to discuss his new ...

How Matthew Rankin’s ‘Universal Language’ creates a fantastical version of reality Using real stories from the filmmaker's life, he and his Iranian co-writers Ila Firouzabad and Pirouz ...

There's a notion in the film industry that comedies don't travel. Jokes have a regional audience, and humor gets lost in translation, the thinking goes. But director Matthew Rankin thinks more of ...

Matthew Rankin ’s second feature is something of an anomaly on this year’s Oscar shortlist for International Feature Film. For one thing, it takes place in a world that doesn’t actually ...