Neon Releases First Trailer for ‘Sirāt’

Neon has rightfully earned the reputation of producing and distributing the most boundary-pushing and provocative films to land in theaters each year, and from the looks of this new trailer, Sirāt will be keeping this trend alive. From director Oliver Laxe, the premise might feel like any standard thriller about a man trying to reunite with his daughter, but as you can tell from the bombastic praise critics have given it in this trailer, this is far from a standard cinematic experience. Sirāt will open in New York and Los Angeles on Feb. 6.

Neon describes the movie:

A father (Sergi López) 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.

Also starring in Sirāt are Bruno Núñez, Stefania Gadda, and Jade Oukid.

‘Sirāt’ Is Melting Minds

While Sirāt hasn’t officially opened yet in the US, it premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and won the Jury Prize, and secured a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Score at the Golden Globe Awards. In addition to sitting at 93% positive reviews on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the movie also landed on a number of year-end best-of lists, cracking the top ten list at The New Yorker, The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, Vulture, The Los Angeles Times, and Entertainment Weekly.

Variety’s Jessica Kiang described of the movie:

“…Laxe’s preternaturally firm grip on the tone of escalating devastation (which culminates in an absurd, borderline ridiculous climax that is simultaneously one of the most cower-behind-your-fingers tense sequences in recent memory) never falters. This thrilling directorial confidence, given his film’s elegant opacities and ambiguities, is a quality to marvel at, even as it’s binding your hands and tying you to your seat and forcing you to watch, possibly against your will. ‘Is this what the end of the world feels like?’ asks Bigui at one point and yes, it kind of is. But although the despairing peri-apocalyptic moment it evokes is one in which everything is ending, falling away, burning out, blowing up, turning to dust and dying, Sirāt is something new.

Whether or not moviegoers at large will connect with the experience will be determined in the coming months.