TEHRAN-The 2024 Canadian absurdist comedy-drama film “Universal Language” (also known as “The Song of a Turkey”) co-written and directed by Matthew Rankin will be screened at the cinematheque of the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran on Monday.

After the 90-minute movie is shown, a review session will be held with film critic Mohammad Hashemi, ISNA reported.

The film is set in an alternate reality in which Persian, rather than English, is the dominant language of Canada, although it remains in coexistence with French.

Described as a “surreal comedy of disorientation” set “somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg,” the film blends the initially unrelated, but gradually converging, stories of Negin (Rojina Esmaeili) and Nazgol (Saba Vahedyousefi), who find money frozen in ice and try to claim it; Massoud (Pirouz Nemati), a tour guide in Winnipeg who is leading a confused and disoriented tour group; and Matthew (Rankin), who quits his unfulfilling job with the government of Quebec and travels home to Winnipeg to visit his mother.

“Universal Language” received positive reviews from critics and was named one of the top 5 international films of 2024 by the National Board of Review. The film was selected as the Canadian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. 

SS/