Neon will release one of its high-profile Cannes acquisitions, “Sirāt,” during prime awards season.
The Spanish-language drama will open theatrically in New York and Los Angeles on Nov. 14 for a one-week qualifying engagement before a nationwide rollout in January.
Winner of the Jury Prize and Cannes Soundtrack Award at this year’s festival, “Sirāt” will receive a full awards campaign from Neon, competing in all categories including best picture. Its strongest Oscar prospects are in the best international feature category, where it hopes to represent Spain as the official submission, which typically announce in September. Spain hasn’t taken home the Oscar since Alejandro Amenábar’s “The Sea Inside” in 2004.
Directed by Oliver Laxe, “Sirāt” follows a father (Sergi López) and his young son as they search for his missing daughter amid desert raves in southern Morocco. The film has earned universal acclaim and currently holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Laxe, whose previous three features all premiered and won prizes at Cannes, co-wrote the screenplay with Santiago Fillol. The cast includes López, Bruno Nunez Arjona, Richard Bellamy and Stefania Gadda.
The producing team features Laxe, Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar, Agustín Almodóvar, Xavi Font, Esther García, Oriol Maymó, Mani Mortizavi, Andrea Queralt and Domingo Corral.
“Sirāt” will make its North American debut at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival in the special presentations section and has also been selected for the New York Film Festival’s main slate.
The film has been a box office success in Spain, where BTeam Pictures released it June 6. After nine weeks, it has sold nearly 400,000 tickets and remains in the top 15, outperforming last year’s Oscar hopefuls titles such as “Emilia Pérez” and “The Substance.” Pyramide will release “Sirāt” in France on more than 200 screens Sept. 3.
variety.com
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