NEON announced on May 23 that it acquired North American rights to Oliver Laxe’s Sirât, which premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival on May 15. Co-written by Laxe alongside frequent collaborator Santiago Fillol, the film stars Sergi López, Bruno Núñez, Stefania Gadda, and Jade Oukid. NEON is planning a North American theatrical release later this year.

The immersive, highly original and explosive film 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.

Oliver 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 Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard and won the Jury Prize. Known for frequently shooting on location in Morocco and utilizing non-actors in his films, he returns to those roots with Sirât.

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.