Director: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson
Seven heads of state wander off a resort path in the woods and never quite find their way back to civilization, or to a finished sentence, in this deadpan satire from Guy Maddin and brothers Evan and Galen Johnson.
What is Rumours about?
During a G7-style summit, the leaders of several wealthy nations gather at a remote retreat to hammer out a joint statement on an unspecified global crisis. When their handlers vanish and night falls, the group is left to navigate a forest that seems to actively resist their sense of direction. What begins as a diplomatic photo-op curdles into something stranger: half-buried figures in the undergrowth, a giant preserved brain, and colleagues who start behaving less like statesmen and more like frightened animals. Cate Blanchett anchors the ensemble as the group's reluctant, image-conscious center, while Roy Dupuis, Charles Dance, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Takehiro Hira play fellow leaders whose composure erodes scene by scene. The film treats the summit's language of committees, drafts, and communiqués as its own kind of horror, mining comedy from officials who keep trying to workshop a press statement even as the situation around them turns feral.
Cast & crew
Blanchett leads a genuinely international ensemble, with Dance and Dupuis standing out as leaders whose diplomatic poise curdles fastest once the group is truly lost.
Context & significance
Rumours premiered on the festival circuit in 2024 as a Canada-Germany-United States co-production, continuing Maddin's long collaboration with the Johnson brothers on films that blend surrealist imagery with dry political comedy.
Where & how to watch
Rumours streams on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles available, part of a catalog built around a Farsi-first viewing experience for the diaspora. A free account login is all that's needed to start watching; the film's page itself is open to browse without signing in.