Haddenham Screen

SIRAT (15)

114 mins

Director:  Oliver Laxe

Starring:  Sergi Lopez, Bruno Nunez Arjona, Stefania Gadda

Synopsis:

A father and his son arrive at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco. They are searching for Mar -- daughter and sister -- who vanished months ago at one of these endless, sleepless parties. Surrounded by electronic music and a raw, unfamiliar sense of freedom, they hand out her photo again and again. Hope is fading, but they push through and follow a group of ravers heading to one last party in the desert. As they venture deeper into the burning wilderness, the journey forces them to confront their own limits.

Awards:  Jury Prize winner at Cannes Film Festival,  two Oscar nominations.

Reviews:

"Quite what version of nirvana (whether heavenly of earthly) these characters are reaching for is left to the audience to interpret, but what’s for certain is that Sirāt is an early contender for film of the year."   *****    INDEPENDENT

"Sirāt makes a ticklish presence in Oscar conversations: it has the flavour of a cult film, a grimy gatecrasher among the tuxedos. And yet this isn’t the trippy sprawl of another generation’s midnight movie."    ****  FINANCIAL TIMES

"Sirat" is an Arabic word for road or path, and, appropriately enough, this is a director with a firm notion of where he is going and what he wants to tell us along the way."    *****  IRISH TIMES

"This is a piece of extraordinarily visceral film-making by Laxe."   OBSERVER