Sirāt Special part I

David Letellier, aka Kangding Ray, may be new to film scoring, but his soundtrack for Sirāt has already drawn wide acclaim, earning multiple nominations and the Cannes Soundtrack Award.

Directed by Óliver Laxe, Sirāt follows a father searching for his missing daughter in southern Morocco. His search leads him and his son deep into desert raves, while geopolitical conflict looms in the background. Collective ecstasy and unease move side by side.

Music does not simply accompany this journey. It shapes how we experience it. Built from rough, bass-heavy techno and analogue machines, the score gradually erodes, opening into something more fragile and otherworldly. What begins as the physical energy of a rave becomes an existential awakening.

On Wednesday 4 March, we invite you to experience Sirāt at Symra Cinema, followed by a conversation between filmmaker Mohamed Chakiri and composer Sebastian Fongen Langslet, Ultima’s Outreach Coordinator. They will discuss how Ray’s score resists conventional emotional cues, and explore music as a narrative force. More generally, they will reflect on the context of the film, and rave culture, as a charged space unfolding under political instability.

Stay tuned for information on Sirāt Special part II!

Facts

• Sirāt was released in Norway on 6 February 2026.
• The title refers, in Islamic tradition, to the bridge separating hell from paradise.
• Techno and rave culture are often described in opposing ways. For some, the dance floor represents a place of freedom and shared release. For others, it raises questions about escape and withdrawal from political reality. Sirāt unfolds within this tension without resolving it.