Sirât (Spain)

A desert journey into rave culture: this is how one could sum up 'Sirât', the fourth feature by the talented Oliver Laxe, a Spanish director with French nationality, born in Paris in 1982. At the end of a sequence in which the music is absolutely protagonist, we meet Louis and his son Stéphane, who arrive at an isolated rave in the middle of the desert, surrounded by dust and incessant electronic music. They are there to look for Marina, their daughter and sister, who disappeared months earlier during one of those parties that never seem to end. With its constant audiovisual bombardment, which follows the rhythms of rave culture and the fascination of desert scenarios, 'Sirât' is a mystical journey, in which the spectator is called upon to participate in the search for this mysterious girl, of whom only a few images remain. A fascinating product, which does not, however, have the ambition to lift the statuette for best international feature film.