The Jury Prize at the Festival de Cannes 2025, Sirāt will air on Canal+ on Tuesday, May 19, 2026 at 21:10. Directed by Oliver Laxe, this drama, shot in Morocco’s barren Saghro mountain range, brings together Sergi López, Bruno Núñez Arjona and Richard Bellamy.
Sirāt
Film | 2025
In cinemas: September 10, 2025
Airing on Canal+: Tuesday, May 19, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Drama | Runtime: 1h54
Directed by Oliver Laxe | Screenplay: Oliver Laxe, Santiago Fillol
Starring Sergi López, Bruno Núñez Arjona, Richard Bellamy
Original title: Sirāt
Nationality: Spain
In the southern mountains of Morocco, Luis hasn’t heard a word from his eldest daughter in months. Joined by his son Estéban, he links up with a group of ravers marching toward a fresh desert festival. What begins as a trek soon becomes a grueling voyage—both physical and inner—through a terrain where the quest for self collides with the limits of the body and the tribe.
With Sirāt, Oliver Laxe makes his first appearance in the official competition at the Festival de Cannes 2025, where he takes home the Jury Prize, awarded jointly. The film also earned the Cannes Soundtrack Prize and the Grand Prix de la Palm Dog, underscoring the Spanish filmmaker’s standing among the leading voices in contemporary cinema.
Directed by Oliver Laxe and co-written with Santiago Fillol, the film features Sergi López, alongside Bruno Núñez Arjona and Richard Bellamy. Shot in the barren mountains of Saghro, east of Ouarzazate, it blends existential drama, sensory experience, and a spiritual road movie, in a bold, minimalist style that stays true to the filmmaker’s signature approach.
Trailer for Sirāt
Having rolled through Cannes’ parallel sections, from which he left with arms full of prizes (Jury Prize for Un Certain Regard, FIPRESCI Prize, Nespresso Grand Prix), the Spanish Oliver Laxe arrives this year in the official competition with Sirāt, a mind-bending and hallucinatory road movie… and our first favorite of this 78th edition.
In Morocco's Saghro desert massif, the rave party is in full swing. This is where Luis(Sergi López) arrives, accompanied by his son Esteban. He is looking for his eldest daughter Marina, who has disappeared. An unfamiliar world opens up to him, that of dreamy ravers on the bangs of society, modern-day acrobats with whom he embarks on a roadtrip across the Saharan desert, in search of the next party his daughter might attend.
A true cinematic trip, Sirāt sets the mood from the start with a first sensory party scene. The camera glides among the participants (all non-professionals), to the tempo of techno. All that’s left is to let yourself be carried away by the haunting, otherworldly rhythm of the piece, powered by a sound design notably meticulous (credited to Kangding Ray), between drone-like waves that pierce the soul and seas that come and go. Suspended moments that carry you away, enfold you, and warm you.
Beyond breathtaking landscapes, the freaks race forward at full throttle in their customized trucks, closely followed by their father. The real world feels distant (though a conflict rumbles on somewhere), as the vastness of space and the fluidity of time seem to fade away. But then, a tragic event shatters the moment of joy, plunging the story into a , much like waking up after a rough night.
The film then becomes something else, staking its claim as a shady heir to Clouzot's The Wages of Fear. One could fault it for unnecessary shocks — even perversely so — that threaten a well-constructed narrative, but Sirāt will, certainly, leave no one indifferent.
The title Sirāt carries a double meaning: in Arabic it designates both a path and a symbolic bridge linking hell to paradise. This ambivalence runs through the entire film, conceived as a journey that is both physically and spiritually feel. Oliver Laxe cites Abbas Kiarostami, notably The Taste of Cherry, as an influence in his approach to death as a question about life.
With the exception of Sergi López, the cast relies mainly on non-professional actors selected for their fragility and vulnerability. The score by Kangding Ray sits at the heart of the film, guiding its evolution from raw, visceral techno to a leaner, almost immaterial sonic texture. Sirāt thus stands as the director’s most mature collaboration with a composer.
Produced notably by Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar through El Deseo, and backed for the first time by a Spanish broadcaster, Movistar Plus+, Sirāt emerges as a milestone in Oliver Laxe’s career, at once his most accessible and his most radical film.
Between sensory experience and existential contemplation, Sirāt traces the line between shadow and light, loss and transcendence. Awarded at Cannes, the film sits in the continuum of a singular body of work that probes human limits through stark landscapes and stories of passage.
To dive deeper, also check out our picks for films, series and programs to watch on TV this week, our guide to new releases across all platforms, and today’s What to watch today on streaming.
