Sirāt


Sirāt is a 2025 drama film directed by Óliver Laxe and co-written by Santiago Fillol and Laxe. It follows a father in search of his missing daughter along with his son and a group of ravers in the deserts of southern Morocco.
The film had its world premiere on 15 May 2025 in the main competition of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize. It was theatrically released in Spain on 6 June 2025 by BTeam Pictures, and in France on 10 September 2025 by Pyramide Films. It earned eleven nominations at the 40th Goya Awards, including Best Film and Director. At the 98th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best International Feature Film and Best Sound.

Plot

Luis, along with his son Esteban, travels to a rave held in the deserts of southern Morocco in search of his missing daughter, Mar. A subgroup of ravers tell them that another rave is taking place deeper in the desert afterwards, and that Mar could be there. When a group of soldiers arrive to stop the rave and order European ravers to be evacuated, the subgroup break away in two vans, with Luis, Esteban and their dog Pipa following suit in their compact van. Radio reports that armed conflict between two countries have commenced, which soon escalates into a World War III-like event.
The ravers, consisting of Stef, Jade, Tonin, Bigui, and Josh, attempt to dissuade Luis and Esteban to no avail. Heading south to a location "close to Mauritania", the group encounter mishaps and grow closer. They share food and fuel, cross a river together in their vehicles, nurse Pipa back to health when she falls ill after eating the ravers' LSD-contaminated feces, and Tonin does a musical number while improvising a puppetry show using his leg stump. While crossing a mountain pass, one of the vans is stuck in a rut. The group manages to free the vehicle, but amid their celebration Luis's van rolls backwards off a cliff with Esteban and Pipa inside, killing them both.
The remaining group members drive further into the desert looking for help, coming across a nomadic herder who runs off when approached. A grief-stricken Luis walks into the desert alone; he is rescued by Jade and Stef. Looking to lift the group's spirits, Jade asks them to use a psychoactive drug and improvises a rave in the desert with two loudspeakers. While in a trance, she dies in an explosion after stepping on a land mine. Trying to reach Jade, Tonin steps on another mine and is killed.
Realising that they are in the middle of a minefield, the survivors are determined to reach a presumably mine-free rocky area some 60 metres away. They send one empty van forward, trying to secure a safe path; the van explodes after hitting a mine. They repeat the operation with the second van, but the van veers off course when it activates a second mine and is destroyed after hitting a third, failing to create the path they intended. Unfazed, Luis walks straight forward and reaches the area successfully. Bigui attempts to do the same but dies after stepping on a mine. With great hesitation, Stef and Josh follow suit with their eyes shut and safely reach Luis. They are later seen crossing the desert on the roof of a train along with other people.

Cast

  • Sergi López as Luis
  • Bruno Núñez Arjona as Esteban
  • Richard Bellamy as Bigui
  • Stefania Gadda as Stef
  • Joshua Liam Henderson as Josh
  • Tonin Janvier as Tonin
  • Jade Oukid as Jade

Production

Development

Laxe had considered making a film based on the simple concept of "trucks crossing the desert". In 2011, he wrote a treatment about a truck race, which he likens to the TV series Wacky Races, but the project ultimately did not materialise. While making his second feature film Mimosas, Laxe reconnected with rave culture, and decided to retool the concept for a new script about dancing.
In November 2023, the film, which was still in development, received a production grant of €1.2 million from Spain's Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts. In January 2024, Movistar Plus+ disclosed the film as part of a five-project slate to be produced by the platform, with traditional theatrical windows but whose end purpose would be airing on the Spanish streamer. Laxe described his then-untitled project as a story about "some rave attendees in Morocco among whom a father and son are searching for their missing daughter and sister", imagining it to be "very hypnotic, and very sensorial". He also referred to the film as his "most political" and "most radical". The film had a reported budget of €6.5 million.
Besides Sergi López and Bruno Núñez, none of the main cast members were professional actors, and were selected instead in a street-casting process led by costume designer Nadia Acimi, a former romantic partner of Laxe's and a raver herself. Jade Oukid, a French photographer, amateur filmmaker and seamstress, was found at a festival in Portugal. Tonin Janvier, a French street festival performer, spent a significant part of his life in West Africa and lost a leg in a motorcycle accident. Stefania Gadda, an Italian rancher who lives off-the-grid, was found in the Spanish town of Órgiva on the recommendation of local residents.

Filming

Principal photography took place in Spain and Morocco from May to July 2024. Funding technicalities required part of the film be shot in Spain, and as such locations that could stand in for desert areas in the Moroccan Atlas and Anti-Atlas were actively searched for in the country. Originally Los Monegros was considered as an option, but Laxe was persuaded to shoot instead in the Rambla de Barrachina by the coordinator of the Aragon Film Commission. Laxe described the area as "chiseled by the gods" and the place reportedly gave him ideas to tweak the screenplay.
The production team filmed for a month in the provinces of Teruel and Zaragoza, before moving to Morocco for four weeks, where they filmed near Errachidia and Erfoud. Laxe stated that the production team faced intense heat and sandstorms while filming in Morocco. One particular sandstorm broke most of the equipment and lenses, resulting in extensive reshoots. The film was shot by Mauro Herce on Super 16 mm film.

Music

The score of Sirāt was composed by electronic musician David Letellier, known professionally as Kangding Ray. It was released by Invada Records on 17 September 2025.

Release

The Match Factory acquired the international sales rights to the film on 6 May 2024. The trailer was released on 6 May 2025. The film had its world premiere in the main competition of the 78th Cannes Film Festival on 15 May 2025.
Sirāt received a theatrical release by BTeam Pictures in Spain on 6 June 2025, grossing around €1.8 million in its first 24 days in theatres. By 7 September 2025, it had grossed a "robust" €2.7 million in the Spanish box office. Distributed by Pyramide Films, it was released in French theatres on 10 September 2025, selling 468,000 tickets over the course of the month.
Following its Cannes premiere, Neon acquired the film for distribution in North America, while Mubi acquired it for Italy, Turkey, and India. Altitude acquired rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland, Cine Video y TV for Latin America, Cinéart for the Benelux, Pandora Film for Germany and Austria, Filmcoopi for Switzerland, Transformer for Japan, Challan for South Korea, Andrews Film for Taiwan, Madman Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand, New Horizons for Poland, for Sweden, Fidalgo for Norway, for Finland, Feelgood Entertainment for Greece, Nitrato Filmes for Portugal, for former Yugoslavia, Transilvania Film for Romania, Aerofilms for Czechia and Slovakia, Cirko Film for Hungary, and A-One Films for the Baltic countries. Retrato Filmes scheduled a 26 February 2026 theatrical release in Brazil.
The film's festival run also included selections for screenings at the New Zealand International Film Festival, and the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival. For its North American premiere, Sirāt was screened in the Special Presentations program of the 50th Toronto International Film Festival on 5 September 2025. It also made it to the 73rd San Sebastián International Film Festival in the 'Made in Spain' section, to the lineup of the 20th Fantastic Fest for its U.S. premiere, to the main slate of the 63rd New York Film Festival, to the 2025 Beyond Fest lineup, to the 'Dare' strand of the 69th BFI London Film Festival, to the Santa Fe International Film Festival 2025 lineup, to the international competition of the 61st Chicago International Film Festival, to the 'Gala' selection of the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival, and at the 56th International Film Festival of India.

Reception

Critical response

Upon its festival premiere, Sirāt polled as the best film in the 2025 Cannes Critics Survey conducted by IndieWire.
Jessica Kiang of Variety called the film a "brilliantly bizarre, cult-ready vision of human psychology tested to its limits". She praised 's cinematography and 's score. Damon Wise of Deadline wrote, "Part existential road movie, part apocalyptic sci-fi, a puzzling mix of Zabriskie Point and Fury Road that starts with a bang but ends in a curiously minor key." He commended Laia Casanova's sound design. Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter echoed these sentiments, praising Casanova's sound design, but noting that the film "gets muddled near the end". David Katz of IndieWire gave Sirāt an 'A-' rating, describing it as belonging to a type of film "sui generis and evading any classification, emanating from a wholly personal vision of cinema while not resisting galvanizing, and sometimes crowd-pleasing, pleasures". Renaud Baronian of Le Parisien found reminescences from the Mad Max saga in the film, but also from Lost Highway, The Wages of Fear, Sorcerer, Zabriskie Point, Gerry, and Nomadland. John Bleasdale of Time Out lauded it as "startlingly original, jarringly hilarious and deeply disturbing". Fabien Lemercier of Cineuropa wrote that Laxe "masterfully succeeds in creating an unforgettable experiential film about man and the world, the collective and the individual, being and nothingness, radicality and universality, the intimate and the cosmic." Carlos Boyero of El País described the film as "strange in the best sense".
Manuel J. Lombardo of Diario de Sevilla gave Sirāt four stars, concluding that the film "invites us to a borderline experience from which it is difficult to emerge unscathed or indifferent". For The New Yorkers Justin Chang, what unfolds in between the film's beginning and its conclusion is "an experience of singularly turbulent and transfixing power" unmatched in terms of "sheer visceral excitement and sustained emotional force" in 2025.
In June 2025, IndieWire ranked the film at number 25 on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s."

Top ten lists

Sirāt has appeared on the following critics' top ten lists for 2025.