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Neon has bought North American rights to Oliver Laxe‘s “Sirât” following its critically acclaimed debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It has been a busy festival for the distributor, which acquired North American rights to Kleber Mendonça Filho‘s “The Secret Agent” and Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident,” both of which are in competition.
“Sirât” was co-written by Laxe alongside frequent collaborator Santiago Fillol. It stars Sergi López, Bruno Núñez, Stefania Gadda, and Jade Oukid. Neon is planning a North American theatrical release later this year. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately available.
“Sirât” follows a father (López) and his son as they arrive at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco. They’re 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.
Reviewers embraced the picture’s twists and turns, with Variety‘s Jessica Kiang hailing Laxe’s “thrilling directorial confidence” and calling the film a “brilliantly bizarre, cult-ready vision of human psychology tested to its limits.”
“Sirât” is produced by Pedro Almodóvar, Agustín Almodóvar, and Esther García under their banner El Deseo, Xavi Font and Oliver Laxe for Filmes Da Ermida, Oriol Maymó for Uri Films, Mani Mortazavi and Andrea Queralt for 4A4 Productions, and Domingo Corral for Movistar Plus+. Associate producers include Fran Araújo and Guillermo Farré for Movistar Plus+, and Holger Stern. The Match Factory is representing the international sales rights to the film.
Laxe made his feature debut with “You All Are Captains,” which won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. He went on to make religious western “Mimosas,” which screened in the Critics’ Week section at Cannes in 2016. His third feature, “Fire Will Come,” screened at the 2019 festival in Un Certain Regard and won the Jury Prize. He is known for frequently shooting on location in Morocco and utilizing non-actors in his films — something he does once again with “Sirât.”
Neon also came to Cannes with two other competition titles, Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value,” which scored some of the festival’s most ecstatic reviews, and Julia Ducournau’s “Alpha,” as well as Raoul Peck’s “Orwell: 2+2=5” and Michael Angelo Covino’s “Splitsville” starring Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona which Neon also produced.
The company picked up an Oscar for best picture this year for “Anora,” which debuted at Cannes and won the Palme d’Or. It previously won best picture for 2019’s “Parasite.” Neon set a record by releasing five consecutive Palme d’Or winning films.
English (US) ·