Oliver Laxe‘s apocalyptic Cannes jury prize-winner “Sirât” heads into its exclusive, one-week qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles starting this Friday, November 15. This unforgiving travelogue follows a father (Sergi López) as he journeys through EDM, Burning Man-like raves in the Moroccan desert in search of his missing daughter, while his small son is in tow.
Named in IndieWire’s critics survey as the best film of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, “Sirât” is also now Spain’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar. The movie, while sparse on plot, features plenty of turns as twisty as the winding, narrow cliffside roads the ensemble wends there way up and along — as Luis (López) teams up with the ravers to find his daughter in sequences that recall “The Wages of Fear” or its own remake “Sorcerer.”
Exclusive to IndieWire, writer/director Oliver Laxe shares a word, below, with first-time audiences as he hopes they will not spoil the film’s many surprises for others.
“Sirât” launches this Friday for a one-week-only run in New York and Los Angeles; tickets are on sale now via Neon’s website here. On November 18, Los Angeles will experience a special live performance with DJ Kangding Ray and Oliver Laxe at the Regent Theater. Tickets for that event (which are free) are available here.
Here’s Oliver Laxe’s message:
This film was made in the spirit of patience — with the belief that what is hidden speaks as
loudly as what is shown. We carried the story up the mountain with us, letting it breathe in the
wind, allowing the silences to speak. My hope is that you, too, can encounter it in that same
silence.
In a world where everything is explained and revealed before it’s lived, cinema still offers a
sacred space for mystery. SIRĀT belongs to that fragile space. It asks to be discovered step by
step, without guidance or expectation — like a path whose direction you only understand once
you’ve walked it.
If you choose to write or speak about the film, I simply ask that you preserve some of that
mystery for others. The turning of the journey, the moments that come after the characters
begin their climb — these are best met without prior knowledge. Protect them, if you can.
To withhold is not to conceal; it is to give the next traveler the chance to see with fresh eyes.
With gratitude,
Oliver Laxe