Oliver Laxe‘s celebrated fourth feature, Sirat, nabbed the Jury Prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Now the French-born, Spanish director is set to receive a retrospective of his films over a 15-year career at the Toronto Film Festival’s headquarters, TIFF Lightbox. Curated by TIFF Cinematheque’s Andréa Picard, Oliver Laxe: Modern Mystic will showcase rarely screened short films by Laxe, alongside his four features.
That includes his debut feature You Are All Captains, which won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes in 2010 and will be presented in 35 mm film; and the 2016 feature Mimosas, which Laxe shot in the Atlas Mountains and was awarded the Grand Prix of the Cannes Critics’ Week.
His third feature, O que arde (Fire Will Come), won the Jury Prize in the Certain Regard program at Cannes in 2019. Sirat, Spain’s official Oscar entry, takes place in a near-apocalyptic future and follows a group of ravers as they journey through the Moroccan desert in search of one last party.
Also set for TIFF Lightbox screenings are The Sky Trembles and the Earth is Afraid and the Two Eyes are not Brothers, directed by Ben Rivers and starring Laxe in an acting role; the short film Y la chimeneas decidieron escaper, co-directed by Saxe and Enrique Aguilar; and another short, Suena la trompeta, ahora veo otra cara, directed by Laxe.
TIFF will also screen Laxe’s carte blanche selection, The Naked Island, the 1960 film directed by Kaneto Shindō and presented in 35 mm film. The Oliver Laxe retrospective, to run Jan. 14 to 18, 2026, will include a live, virtual Q&A with the Sirat filmmaker.
Mimosas
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