Spanish filmmaker Óliver Laxe first pictured Sirāt in 2011: “I started with this idea of making a film in the desert with trucks driving fast through the sand,” he says. Living in Morocco at the time, he felt a deep connection to the country and set the film there. Sirāt follows a father (Sergi López) searching for his missing daughter at a remote rave, accompanied by his young son (Bruno Núñez Arjona) and their dog. They join a group of ravers and travel across the Sahara, where surreal tragedies unfold.
Laxe and his crew shot Sirāt from May through July 2024 in both Spain and Morocco. The film—nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars—was filmed during an especially hot season. Laxe says art requires pushing limits: achieving beauty demands difficulty, like climbing high branches for the best fruit.
Because Laxe lived in Morocco for over a decade, he knew the landscapes and languages and located many sites himself, using in-person scouting and Google Maps. The story alternates between the Sahara and the Atlas Mountains to the north. “These two spaces are perfect for Sirāt,” he explains. “In the mountains you ask yourself how small you are. The response is surrender. The desert is a place for surrendering.”
Laxe sees filming in a place as giving back rather than encouraging tourism for its own sake. He urges visitors to be travelers, not consumers seeking Instagram shots, and to spend time with local people when they visit.
Below, Laxe discusses Morocco, filming Sirāt, and the risks involved.
What originally drew you to Morocco?
Sometimes the body has memories. Arriving in Morocco felt familiar. Spain is a son of different cultures—Atlantic and Mediterranean, mixed ancestries—and coming from a peasant family in Galicia, I found continuity with Morocco. People rooted in nature share values everywhere; nature shapes values.
Where do you live now?
I lived in Morocco for 12 years, then returned to Galicia and bought my grandmother’s house. The valley where I live is part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, protected for its biodiversity.
Was Sirāt always going to be set in Morocco?
Yes. All my films are shot in nature—I’ve never shot in a city. I like space and what landscape evokes. I wanted an adventure and spiritual tale. In Morocco you feel how the planet was made; you feel small, which brings serenity, not anguish. The desert in Sirāt is a place for abstraction and transcendence.
Why did you shoot some of the film in Spain?
We had to shoot in Spain because European public funds supported the film. We spent three weeks in Spain and four in Morocco. The opening rave is a real rave and would have been difficult to organize in Morocco, so we filmed it in Rambla de Barrachina in northwestern Spain, a red landscape with two symmetrical mountains.
Where did you film the mountaintop road scene?
The road—Tagounsta—was built by the French Legion in the 1920s during campaigns against Berber tribes. It’s near Errachidia in the Atlas Mountains. I found it myself; other roads were more extreme, but Tagounsta was wide enough for production. The mountain top is an incredible landscape.
Where was the final desert scene filmed?
The final desert sequence was shot in the Haroun desert near Erfoud, Morocco. It’s close to tourist areas but a bit off the usual routes. Laxe liked its very white, almost salt-like sand—abstract and striking.
Is the train at the end real?
Yes. The train was real and rented for the shoot. It’s in a place called Gara Medouar, a striking location previously used in Spectre.
Was filming in remote locations challenging?
My films are always challenging, but Moroccans are production experts. We organized a camp on the Tagounsta road and lived in tents. There were risky moments—raves push people to limits, and the mountain sequences with trucks made us nervous—but Laxe considers this his easiest film.
Could Sirāt encourage visitors to these locations?
I’m not sure. These places are gorgeous and relatively isolated, with little tourism. I was escaping tourism. There’s a difference between a tourist and a traveler: a tourist compares everything to home, while a traveler has no fixed home and approaches other places with radical curiosity. To travel properly you need time and to give back.
