The arid plains might soon give way to something far more verdant for “Sirat” director Oliver Laxe, who is looking to the rainforest for inspiration.
“I’m very drawn to the Amazon,” he tells Variety, pointing to “the ceremonies, the soul of the place, its rituals and its medicines” as elements he hopes to explore next. But before he starts writing, Laxe will need to pack his bags. “I need to experience it,” he explains. “I don’t turn reality into film from a distance; it has to be lived. It has to be felt.”
For now, he’ll have to wait, as he’s currently deep into an awards campaign that has taken him all the way to the Marrakech Film Festival. Still, Laxe’s brief stay in Marrakech feels like something of a homecoming for a filmmaker who lived in Morocco for more than a decade, who launched his career out of Tangier, and who wrote his Cannes-winning “Sirat” — Spain’s submission for the international feature Oscar — with the Atlas Mountains, the Ziz Valley and the oasis of Erfoud in mind.
“I’m very drawn to that landscape as well,” he says. “It’s a tectonic landscape from the formation of the planet, a landscape that puts you in your place. You feel small but serious at the same time.”
‘Sirat’
And yet, as anyone familiar with the harrowing, existential “Sirat” might expect, Laxe prefers to stay rooted in the present — which, at the moment, means seeing his promotional-turned-awards campaign through to the end.
The journey has been long. Since Cannes, Laxe has spent all but two weeks on the road, and the strain is beginning to show.
“The level of intense connection with the audience gives me peace,” he says. “It tells me, ‘Okay, you’re on the right path.’ But yes, I’m tired. And yes, I have no time for meditation. Yesterday, I was with [‘The Secret Agent’ director] Kleber Mendonça Filho [selected by Brazil as its Oscar candidate], and we were saying that we’re starting to lose objects. You leave the hotel thinking you checked everything, and suddenly you realize your computer is still on the table.
“I’ve lost clothes, jackets,” Laxe adds. “We’re starting to lose things and it’s only December. I don’t know how far I’ll make it, but Kleber will certainly go until March.”
Does Laxe hope to join his newfound friend at the Oscar ceremony on March 15?
“Inshallah,” he grins.