A father searches for his missing daughter at a rave in southern Morocco, accompanied by his young son. The country is in a state of emergency. The military arrives to evacuate the LSD-soaked ravers from their beat-driven utopia.
Father and son escape the militia and follow a band of raver renegades into the desert, chasing rumours of the next rave, and the faint hope of finding the daughter. And so the story begins.
Sirāt is a film as compelling and relentless as the soundtrack that drives it. From its opening images of bodies moving in hypnotic unison to its final, devastating conclusion, it grips the audience by the short and curlies and refuses to let go.
This is a film like no other. Sirāt defies easy categorisation, fusing one part road-trip adventure, one part horror film, one part war movie and three parts spiritual odyssey. The result is a volatile Molotov cocktail that leaves audiences exhilarated, shaken and slightly scorched.
The cast is unforgettable: ecstatic dancers shaped by psychedelic drugs, some missing limbs, most of them pushing middle age. Like the film itself, they defy convention and demand that the audience rethink who gets to be seen as vital, beautiful or free.
Character development is minimal, but the film more than compensates by capturing raw, authentic moments of connection.
Director Oliver Laxe draws bravura performances from a largely non-professional cast sourced from within the Spanish rave scene. The film’s visceral authenticity is such that you can almost taste the grit of the desert and smell the sour tang of unwashed bodies.
The music is central – consummately evoking euphoria, danger and transcendence – while the Moroccan landscape looms with an ever-present sense of apocalypse.
By the time Sirāt reaches its final moments, the rave has long since dissolved into something far darker and more elemental. What remains is a confrontation with death that feels both personal and cosmic.
The desert swallows illusion, community fractures, and the music that once promised transcendence becomes an echo of something already lost.
Few films capture grief with such ferocity or refuse catharsis so completely. Sirāt does not offer answers; it offers an experience: one that crawls under the skin, rattles the nervous system, and leaves the audience blinking into the light, stunned.
Sirāt runs from 19 – 25 January as part of Lotterywest Films and Perth Festival. Somerville Auditorium, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Godroo / Crawley WA 6009.
Tickets: https://www.perthfestival.com.au/program/season-2026/sirat
Website: https://www.perthfestival.com.au/program/season-2026/lotterywest-films
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/perthfest/ and https://www.instagram.com/lotterywest/
Watch the trailer here:
Film details:
Title: Sirāt
Director: Oliver Laxe
Cast: Sergi López, Brúno Nuñez, Stefania Gadda, Joshua Liam Henderson, Tonin Janvier, Jade Oukid, Richard Bellamy
Country of Origin: France / Spain
Duration: 115 mins
Rating: M
