🌵SIRĀT (2025): The Cannes Jury Prize Winner That Turns a Desert Rave Into a Reckoning | Cast, Plot & Where to Watch

“In the heart of the desert, the line between grief and transcendence disappears.”

🌍 A Soul-Shaking Desert Odyssey — Sirāt (2025)

Sirāt isn’t just a movie — it’s a cinematic trance, a journey into dust, despair, and divine awakening. Directed by Óliver Laxe, the visionary mind behind Fire Will Come and Mimosas, this Cannes Jury Prize–winning drama stands as one of 2025’s most talked-about films.

Released theatrically in Spain (June 6, 2025) and France (September 10, 2025), and now eyeing the 98th Academy Awards as Spain’s official submission, Sirāt is a raw fusion of spiritual cinema, electronic chaos, and existential heartbreak.

🎬 The Story: A Father’s Search in the Desert of Sound

A father, Luis (Sergi López), and his teenage son Esteban (Bruno Núñez Arjona) arrive at a sprawling rave in the mountains of southern Morocco, searching for Mar, their missing daughter and sister.

In a sea of flashing lights and pounding basslines, they hand out her photo again and again. But when soldiers disperse the ravers amid rising political tensions, Luis and Esteban join a drifting caravan of lost souls heading deeper into the desert — where hope blurs into hallucination.

As the group moves toward “one last party” near Mauritania, what begins as a search becomes a spiritual odyssey through chaos and silence, testing every human limit — love, grief, and the meaning of survival itself.

“Some paths are meant to be walked barefoot, even if they burn.”

🧠 Themes: Between Madness and Meaning

The word “Sirāt” in Arabic means “path” — but in Laxe’s world, that path is both physical and metaphysical. This is a film about:

• Loss and Transcendence — how grief can lead to revelation.

• War and Liberation — as the world outside collapses, internal truths awaken.

• Music and Madness — the rave becomes a ritual, a collective heartbeat echoing in the dunes.

• Faith in Chaos — walking through the desert is walking through the soul.

Sirāt isn’t just watched — it’s felt. It thrums with the pulse of life, death, and everything in between.

🎥 The Vision of Óliver Laxe

Laxe, known for blending mysticism with realism, delivers his most ambitious and hypnotic work ye t.Shot on Super 16mm by cinematographer Mauro Herce, every grain of sand feels alive, every shadow whispers secrets. The visuals swing between hallucinatory raves and quiet, sun-bleached stillness, making Sirāt feel like a cross between Mad Max, Zabriskie Point, and The Wages of Fear.

The score by techno artist Kangding Ray — dense, haunting, and primal — transforms the film into a sound-and-soul experience, where rhythm replaces dialogue and silence becomes revelation.

👥 The Cast

• Sergi López as Luis, a father driven by faith and guilt.

• Bruno Núñez Arjona as Esteban, the son caught between love and fear.

• Stefania Gadda as Stef

• Joshua Liam Henderson as Josh

• Richard Bellamy, Tonin Janvier, Jade Oukid, and others bring authenticity to the ragtag community of ravers and wanderers.

Their performances are unfiltered and raw — Sirāt’s emotional realism feels almost documentary-like, pulling viewers into its fever dream.

⚡ Critical Acclaim & Awards

🏆 Winner — Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2025🌍 Official Spanish Submission — Best International Feature Film (98th Academy Awards)

Critics call Sirāt “a sensory masterpiece” and “one of the boldest visions of the decade.”It’s a film that questions the boundaries of cinema itself, merging visual poetry with human pain in a way only Laxe can.

🌵 Why Sirāt Matters

In a year filled with sequels and spectacle, Sirāt reminds us what cinema as a spiritual experience looks like. It’s a film that burns slow, like a ritual under the Moroccan sun — haunting, purifying, unforgettable.

This isn’t a movie you simply watch. It’s one you survive.

“The desert doesn’t end — it teaches you how to walk.”

📅 Release & Streaming Details

• World Premiere: Cannes Film Festival — May 15, 2025

• Spain Release: June 6, 2025 (BTeam Pictures)

• France Release: September 10, 2025 (Pyramide Films)

• U.S. Release: Expected late 2025

• Streaming: To be announced after its awards circuit run

⭐ Final Verdict: Sirāt is a meditative, heart-shattering masterwork — a film where the desert becomes a mirror, and every step taken is a confrontation with the self. For those seeking cinema that transcends storytelling and becomes an experience, this is 2025’s most essential watch.

🜂 “Hope fades in the sand, but faith dances on the wind.”