Spain Selects ‘Sirât’ as International Film Pick for 2026 Oscars

As more countries select their picks for Best International Feature Film to submit for the 98th Academy Awards, Variety has learned that Spain has entered Sirât as its contender for this year’s International Feature lineup at the Oscars.

Written and directed by Óliver Laxe and co-written by Santiago Fillol, the movie stars Sergi López as Luis, a father who, with his son, Esteban (Bruno Núñez Arjona), is looking for their daughter and sister, Mar, who has gone missing in the south of Morocco. The less said about this incredible movie, the better, which has garnered lots of strong reactions out of the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize for the Palme d’Or competition.

NEON was the studio that picked up the title at the festival, alongside a multitude of other international contenders, which include Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, which won the Palme d’Or this year and will be submitted for contention through France, Joachim Trier‘s Sentimental Value, Kleber Mendonça Filho‘s The Secret Agent, and Park Chan-wook‘s No Other Choice.

The movie is set to have a one-week qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles on November 14 before expanding into theatres nationwide in January. It will also play at several fall film festivals, which recently included the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival.

The first shortlist of 15 films in contention for the International Feature Oscar will be announced on December 15, followed by the nominations on January 22.

Source: Variety