Matthew Rankin says he's proud to attend this year's Cannes Film Festival with fellow Winnipeg-born director Guy Maddin 鈥� especially since his hometown鈥檚 indie film scene often gets overlooked.
鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderful to be there with Guy. In a lot of ways, he鈥檚 a huge mentor to me and to all emerging Winnipeg filmmakers,鈥� he says on a video call from Montreal.
鈥淲e'll see if Winnipeg takes any notice of us being there. That would be fun. I don't know what will happen.鈥�
Rankin鈥檚 sophomore feature 鈥淯niversal Language鈥� will make its world premiere at Cannes鈥� parallel section Directors鈥� Fortnight, while veteran filmmaker Maddin鈥檚 dark comedy 鈥淩umours,鈥� co-directed with Winnipeggers Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, will debut out of competition.
They are among several Canadians with films screening at the 77th edition of the festival 鈥� kicking off Tuesday in southern France 鈥� including Toronto鈥檚 David Cronenberg, whose horror feature "The Shrouds" will compete for the Palme d鈥橭r.
Though Winnipeg will have a significant presence at Cannes, Rankin says the city has become 鈥渧ery corporate鈥� over the years and doesn鈥檛 celebrate its homegrown independent talent as it should.
鈥淒espite all the great artists who live there, there's no interest in their work on the part of institutions or the government or even culture writ large,鈥� says the director who made his Cannes debut in 2017 with short film 鈥淭he Tesla World Light,鈥� which screened at Critics鈥� Week, another parallel section of the festival.
鈥淚 feel like the Hallmark movement has really taken over that town. It's become all about Christmas movies and the independents make their work in defiance. The system is structured against them. But this has always been a tension in Winnipeg.鈥�
He says that friction has led Winnipeg鈥檚 indie filmmakers to have a 鈥減unk rock, anti-establishment, anti-mainstream鈥� impulse.
Rankin鈥檚 hometown plays a big role in 鈥淯niversal Language,鈥� and so does he. The director stars as himself in the surrealist comedy, in which he leaves a mind-numbing job with the Quebec government and takes a winding trip to Winnipeg to visit his mother.聽
His storyline intertwines with two others: Rojina Esmaeili and Saba Vahedyousefi star as two girls attempting to retrieve an Iranian banknote frozen beneath a sheath of ice, while Pirouz Nemati plays a tour guide leading a bewildered group through Winnipeg鈥檚 increasingly bizarre monuments and historical sites.
Space, time and people all blend abstractly throughout the film; characters trade places, the setting cross-fades between Winnipeg, Quebec and Tehran and the dialogue alternates between French and Farsi.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about exploring the fluidity of our experience of life, fluidity of identity, how we overlap,鈥� says Rankin.
鈥淚n life, we鈥檙e in dialogue with lots of different data. We're not just living in one structured binary. We're part of a much larger human family, a much more complex story."
Co-writer Ila Firouzabadi, who grew up in Tehran and currently lives in Montreal, says "it鈥檚 about our common brain 鈥� Quebecois, Winnipeg and Iranian all together."
The film鈥檚 fever dream aura is on-brand for Rankin, whose debut feature, 2019鈥檚 鈥淭he Twentieth Century,鈥� is an absurdist biopic about former Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Rankin says "Universal Language" fits into the style of Winnipeg鈥檚 indie film scene, which has 鈥渢aken the vocabulary of experimental film and has reprocessed it to tell these very personal, very bizarre, very countercultural, personal stories.鈥�
He says the oddball sensibility of many Winnipeg movies is 鈥渢he most sincere and authentic expression鈥� of the city that can exist.
鈥淭his is the Winnipeg that I love the most. I feel like it鈥檚 something you can trace throughout Winnipeg history from Louis Riel to the 1919 general strike, right up to Guy Maddin and beyond,鈥� he says.
鈥淚t's this absolute rejection of the North American mainstream that resists the pull of Anglo America.鈥�
Rankin says he and Firouzabadi will share an Airbnb at Cannes with 12 people from the film鈥檚 crew, including first-time actors Esmaeili and Vahedyousefi.
鈥淲e鈥檒l have to shake some hands. There鈥檒l probably be a few backs we鈥檒l have to slap. I guess we鈥檒l see some films and stuff,鈥� he quips.
Some might say Rankin being highlighted at the festival with Maddin suggests a passing of the torch for Winnipeg鈥檚 film scene, but he prefers to take a bigger-picture perspective.
鈥淭hat torch is passed on to many people. There鈥檚 an incredible community of filmmakers making work in Winnipeg about Winnipeg and about that experience who will carry that tradition on.鈥�
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2024.
Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press
