Universal Language | Avaz boughalamoune (2024)

Synopsis

In a mysterious and surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, the lives of multiple characters interweave with each other in surprising and mysterious ways.

Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly-befuddled tourists through the monuments and historic sites of Winnipeg.



Matthew 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.

Cast: Rojina Esmaeili, Danielle Fichaud, Sobhan Javadi, Pirouz Nemati, Matthew Rankin, Mani Soleymanlou, Saba Vahedyousefi

Produced by: Sylvain Corbeil
Cinematography: Isabelle Stachtchenko
Edited by: Xi Feng
Music by: Amir Amiri, Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux


The film premiered at the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the program's first Audience Award.

"All this comes from my meaningless life; The events of the story are drawn directly from my family history, some from when I was in Iran, as well as from mysterious dreams I had after the death of my parents." -Rankin

Writing for Indiewire, David Ehrlich noted that the film "is first and foremost a testament to the shared artifice of all filmic storytelling, and to the singular realities it’s able to bring alive in turn."

In Vulture, Bilge Ebiri called the film the best he had seen at Cannes and "a magnificent film, one that feels warm and familiar even as we realize just how startlingly original it is."

Read about this film

Country: Canada
Language: French | Farsi
Color: Color
Runtime: 89 min.