The adventure of 'Sirat' at the Oscars ended up without any statuettesBut it left with the feeling of having been one of the most talked-about titles of awards season. Oliver Laxe's film, which represented Spain at the 98th Academy Awards, had two key nominations but left the Dolby Theatre empty-handed.
Far from being interpreted as a complete failure, Sirat's run in the Oscar race brings to a close a journey as long as it was intenseThe project, which began at the Cannes Film Festival and continued for months through festivals, galas, and receptions, has marked a turning point for Laxe, his team, and much of European cinema. Having achieved this level of success with such an unconventional approach represents a significant milestone.
Two nominations, zero awards: this is how the dream of 'Sirat' vanished
In Los Angeles at night, 'Sirat' was gambling its future on two strategic aspectsBest International Feature Film and Best Sound. In both cases, the Spanish film arrived as a prestigious alternative, with a great reputation among critics, but without the aura of favorite that accompanied some of its strongest rivals.
In the category of Best International Feature Film, the victory ultimately went to the Norwegian film 'Sentimental Value'Directed by Joachim Trier, the film had already garnered a significant number of nominations and strong support within the Academy. The Nordic film thus triumphed over 'Sirat' and the other nominees: 'The Secret Agent' (Brazil), 'A Simple Accident' (Iran), and 'The Voice of Hind' (Tunisia).
The other great Spanish asset was in better sound, where 'Sirat' was already achieving a historic milestoneLaia Casanovas, Yasmina Praderas, and Amanda Villavieja had become the first all-female team nominated in this category in almost a century of awards. Despite this, the award went to 'F1: The Movie', by Joseph Kosinski, a much more elaborate work in the style of a classic Hollywood spectacle.
In practice, The Spanish film's "real chance" of winning an award lay precisely in the sound category.Oliver Laxe himself had admitted this days before the ceremony, acknowledging that the chances of winning the international Oscar were slim and that the mere fact of being nominated was already a major recognition for such a unique film.
On stage, the announcement of the award for best international film was made by Javier Bardem and Priyanka ChopraWhen the Spanish actor pronounced the title 'Sentimental Value' and not 'Sirat', the most predictable defeat of the night for Spanish cinema was officially confirmed.
A journey from Cannes to Hollywood: from initial impact to global phenomenon
The path 'Sirat' It didn't begin at the Oscars, but ten months earlier on the Croisette. It was at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival where Laxe's film premiered, causing a genuine shock among audiences and critics alike and winning the Special Jury Prize. Interestingly, that same edition also featured several of its future international rivals, including 'Valor sentimental'.
From that first impact, The film grew thanks to a sense of "novelty" that was highly sought after by the industry.The distributor Neon, responsible for its release in the United States, knew how to fully exploit the strange, hypnotic and unclassifiable nature of the proposal, opting for a very calculated campaign around its status as a disruptive work within contemporary auteur cinema.
Between Europe and Hollywood, 'Sirat' gradually became the perfect example of an "anomalous" filmIt was used as a benchmark to gauge the extent to which the Academy was willing to open its doors to different perspectives, far removed from the more conventional narrative. Its visual and auditory magnetism, closer to a trance than to typical drama, placed it at the center of many debates about the future of cinema.
In Spain, however, The reception was considerably more lukewarm than in the US marketLaxe himself lamented, shortly before the gala, having had to "legitimize" himself outside of Spain for his work to gain the recognition it now enjoys on the international circuit. A common paradox in European auteur cinema, but especially striking in this case.
During the months following Cannes, The film garnered numerous nominations at the European Film Awards, the Goya Awards, and other festivals....until he completed an endless schedule of trips, interviews, and red carpets. The director admitted that he felt "exhausted" and eager to close this chapter and return home to focus on new projects.
The sound of 'Sirat': a historic nomination for a Spanish team
If there is a technical section in which 'Sirat' has left its mark; it's the sound.The work of Laia Casanovas, Yasmina Praderas and Amanda Villavieja not only won the Goya in Spain, but ended up becoming one of the most talked about by international critics from its very premiere in Cannes.
The three Spanish professionals explained that, even in the first reviews, Many critics specifically mentioned the film's sound design.This is unusual in a medium that typically focuses more on acting or directing. In 'Sirat', the sound doesn't just envelop the action, but functions almost like a living organism that breathes and evolves in rhythm with the story itself.
That bet consisted of to build a sound texture that would grow in intensity, depth, and anguish As the story unfolds, the sense of strangeness and total immersion of the viewer intensifies. Far from a spectacular shock effect, it was a more subtle, unsettling, and difficult-to-categorize approach.
In the final stretch of the season, This radical approach became the benchmark for judging the rest of the nominated works. in the sound category. The academics were thus faced with a clear dilemma: to reward the forceful orthodoxy of 'F1: The Movie', based on engines, circuits and controlled noise, or to recognize the almost experimental strangeness of 'Sirat'.
Although the scales ultimately tipped in favor of Kosinski's blockbuster, The milestone of the nomination had already set an important precedentThe fact that an all-female Spanish team reached that level, in a technical area historically dominated by men, was interpreted both inside and outside of Spain as a remarkable symbolic advance.
Fierce competition and media noise: why 'Sirat' had a very difficult time
Beyond their own merits, Sirat's candidacy unfolded in a particularly complicated editionIn the Best International Film category, the presence of 'Sentimental Value' —with a total of nine nominations— and 'The Secret Agent', which also managed to sneak into the main Best Film category, left the Spanish representative at a clear disadvantage in terms of statistics and visibility.
In practice, The campaign of these rivals had a much greater industrial and media backing.reinforced by its presence in several major categories. In contrast, 'Sirat' played the card of artistic singularity, but without the same promotional apparatus or such an overwhelming track record in other award ceremonies.
To this context was added an element that is more difficult to quantify: Oliver Laxe's controversial statements about Brazil and the alleged ultranationalism of part of its electorateThese statements, made in the midst of the campaign, generated a buzz on social media and in the press, and although it is impossible to measure their real impact on the vote, they did add a dose of controversy to a campaign that, in theory, needed to project an image of unity and friendliness.
Even the director himself didn't seem particularly confident about a last-minute twist. Days before the ceremony, He openly admitted that he did not expect to go on stage to collect any awards.She approached the experience with a mixture of gratitude and weariness. On the red carpet, she repeatedly stated that the nomination already served as "legitimization" of her style and as an invitation to continue exploring less traveled paths.
In any case, What this edition has made clear is that simply being a great film is not enough.To cross the finish line at the Oscars, many factors need to align: strong support within the industry, flawless campaigns, and often, a profile that combines risk and accessibility. 'Sirat' bet heavily on the first part of the equation, but never played on a level playing field in the second.
The place of 'Sirat' in the recent history of Spanish cinema
With their defeat in Los Angeles, Spain adds another edition without an award in the best international film categorySince Alejandro Amenábar's 'The Sea Inside' won the statuette in 2005, no Spanish production has managed to repeat the feat, despite such outstanding nominations as 'Pain and Glory' or 'Society of the Snow'.
In this context, 'Sirat' belongs to a line of titles that, although they do not win an Oscar, broaden the image of Spanish cinema abroad.Just as happened with films by Pedro Almodóvar or Juan Antonio Bayona, the impact of Laxe's film is measured as much by awards as by the mark it leaves on critics, festivals and international conversation.
Furthermore, The film points in a different direction than other recent successes of Spanish cinema.They are more focused on classic drama or recognizable genre films. Their boundary-pumping nature, straddling the line between sensory experience and raw storytelling, has resonated particularly well with programmers, filmmakers, and a certain type of cinephile audience in Europe and the United States.
Looking to the future, The echo of 'Sirat' can serve as a reference for other European projects that aspire to combine formal risk and international scopeIts journey demonstrates that it is possible to reach the final stages of awards season with a proposal that does not renounce its radicalism, even if the outcome is not the desired one in the form of a statuette.
For Oliver Laxe, the closing of this stage also has a clear personal interpretation: the need to leave behind the dynamics of galas and promotion to return to filmingHe himself jokingly and wearily claimed that he had "danger" in store for his next film, which he described as a kind of "therapy" rather than a "shock," always with the idea of ​​offering the viewer an unpredictable experience.
This concludes 'Sirat's' journey through the Oscars: Without awards, but established as one of the essential titles of recent cinemaThe film hasn't managed to turn its nominations into gold, but it has strengthened the presence of Spanish and European cinema at a ceremony dominated by American productions and strong favorites like 'Battle After Battle' and 'The Sinners'. What remains, beyond the fleeting glamour of Hollywood's night, is the legacy of a film destined to outlast the noise of the awards ceremony.