Oliver Laxe's Sirât wins Cannes Jury Prize in historic night for Catalan cinema

Oliver Laxe's boldest film to date, Sirât, has lived up to expectations by winning the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, sharing the honour in a tie with Mascha Schilinski's Sound of Falling.

The jury, chaired by actor Juliette Binoche, added their official endorsement to the film's warm reception at the prestigious festival.

French-born Galician director Laxe is no stranger to Cannes, having presented his three previous films there, but this marked his debut in the main competition for the Palme d'Or.

Sirât, which stars Sergi López, is the first Catalan production in history to feature among the official award winners at Cannes.

The film follows a father – and his son – on a boundless journey through the Moroccan mountains in search of his daughter, missing after a rave.

The other Catalan contender in the competition, Romería by Carla Simón, left the ceremony without a prize.

The Palme d'Or was won by Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident, with the Grand Prix going to Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value.

Oliver Laxe's 'Sirât' 

Director Oliver Laxe returned to Cannes for the fourth time with 'Sirât,' a Catalan co-production which is his most radical film yet.

Born in Paris to Galician parents, Laxe moved to Barcelona to study filmmaking at the Pompeu Fabra University. He brings a deeply personal and spiritual tone to the story of a father and son searching for a missing daughter at a rave in the Moroccan mountains.  

Starring renowned Catalan actor Sergi López, 'Sirât' contains an experimental techno soundtrack by musician Kangding Ray, creating a dark landscape using techno as its foundation.  

The title, signifying "path" in Arabic, holds a strong religious meaning in Islam. It refers to the inner journey that pushes a person to "die before dying" but it also refers to the bridge that connects hell to paradise. 

In an interview with the Catalan News Agency (ACN) in Cannes, Laxe said: "We have to walk this path, we have to prepare ourselves for death, and the characters in the film are on the edge of understanding that they are imperfect, questioning what they're capable of and how far they can leap." 

Actor Sergi López, born in Vilanova i la Geltrú, called the film "radical in every sense." For him, the core idea of 'Sirât' is the realization that sooner or later, life will strike you and death and pain are part of existence.