Canada’s Oscar entry “Universal Language,” a critically acclaimed movie directed by Matthew Rankin, has been acquired by distributors in most major territories ahead of its North American premieres at Toronto and New York Film Festival.
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Represented worldwide by Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever, the movie world premiered at this Cannes Directors’ Fortnight where it won the inaugural People’s Choice Award. Following Toronto and New York, the movie will go on to play at Fantastic Fest and Festival du Nouveau Cinema as the festival opener. “Universal Language” also won the Bright Horizons Best Film Award at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
“Universal Language” has been bought for France (Météore Films), Scandinavia (Njutafilms), Germany & Austria (Rapid Eye Movies), Switzerland (Outside The Box), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nitrato Filmes), CEI (Universal Distribution), Japan (The Klockworx), China (DDDream), Taiwan (Hooray Films), Brazil (Belas Artes Grupo), Indonesia (Falcon Pictures) and India (Big Tree Entertainment). Benelux, UK and Australia are in talks, among others remaining territories. Oscilloscope Laboratories will release the film in the U.S. and Maison 4:3 will release in Canada.
The film, which marks Rankin’s follow-up to his award-winning surreal movie “The Twentieth Century,” is a comedy unfolding in a reimagined Canada where Persian and French are the two official languages. It follows the lives of multiple characters, including Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol who 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.
“Universal Language” was produced by Sylvain Corbeil at Metafilms, the leading Canadian outfit behind films by Xavier Dolan and hits such as “The Nature of Love,” “Falcon Lake,” and “Felix and Meira.” Oscilloscope Labs are executive producers.
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“The Twentieth Century” had won the Berlinale Fipresci Award in 2020 and Best Canadian debut award in TIFF Midnight Madness 2019, while his 2017 short film “The Tesla World Light” had its premiere in Cannes Critic’s Week.
Best Friend Forever’s fall lineup is headlined by Marie Losier’s documentary “Peaches goes Bananas” which is world premiering at Venice Days, and Min Bahadur Bham’s Locarno prizewinning “Shambhala.” Other world premieres include the crazy kung-fu romantic comedy “Zenithal” by Jean Baptiste Saurel and Lenny and Harpo Guit’s “Heads or Fails,” a follow-up to “Mother Schmuckers” playing at Austin Fantastic Fest.
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