Sirat

A vital cinematic saga, infused with the spirit of rave. At a music festival, Luis (Sergi López) arrives with his son Esteban and their dog Pipa, searching for his missing daughter. As he ventures deeper into the scorching wilderness with a community chasing escape and oblivion, he faces profound trials. In Islamic tradition, sirât signifies the path or bridge over Hell – thinner than a hair, sharper than a sword – that humankind must cross on the Day of Judgment to reach Paradise. Here, the bridge stretches between Morocco and Mauritania; below, instead of flames, lies the burning Sahara. The film mesmerizes with both imagery and Kangding Ray’s techno score – at once jolting, soothing, and otherworldly.

For Olivier Laxe (Mimosas, Fire Will Come), one of Europe’s most distinctive emerging directors, Sirât was inspired by Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry, where an encounter with death becomes an ode to life. In today’s unstable world, the Galician filmmaker searches for human authenticity – who we are when shaken to the core, what we feel at the edge of the abyss. Produced by the Almodóvar brothers, the film premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Jury Prize.