tech
February 9, 2026
'The music could not stop for three days': how Sirāt went on a road trip to the dark heart of rave
Club culture is notoriously hard to capture on film. Oscar-tipped director Oliver Laxe explains why he had to organise his own music festival in the Moroccan desert to find deeper meaning in dance-floor ecstasy
TL;DR
- Oliver Laxe's film 'Sirāt' features a rave in the southern Moroccan desert with real ravers and DJs, including Spiral Tribe member 69db.
- Laxe adapted his filmmaking process to the reality of the ravers, agreeing to a three-day continuous music event.
- The film blends a road movie plot about a family searching for a missing daughter with the deeper themes of rave culture, ego dissolution, and mortality.
- Laxe sees raving as a confrontation with mortality and a spiritual practice, drawing inspiration from Sufism, gestalt psychotherapy, and Joseph Campbell.
- Non-professional actors with disabilities were cast to externalize emotional imperfections, reflecting the search for solace on the dancefloor.
- Composer David Letellier (Kangding Ray) created the film's score, aiming to match sounds to the on-screen pain and despair, resulting in a disintegrating soundscape.
- The film suggests that dancing can be an act of solace and a way to process collective and personal pain and trauma.
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