A couple of weeks ago, thanks to Madman Distribution, I got to watch the Cannes Jury Prize-winning Sirat, a French – Spanish coproduction helmed by French-born director of Spanish descent, Oliver Laxe.

It’s the sort of auteur arthouse fare that reminds me why I love cinematic film as a storytelling medium.

It’s an incredibly divisive film, praised and panned in equal measure by critics.

Made on a reported budget of approximately US$7.5 million, its worldwide take to date is just under US$11 million according to Box Office Mojo. If it keeps achieving more sales, then it might break even.

Now Laxe is a Cannes darling, with all of his previous three films screening there. Throw in Pedro Almodóvar as one of the producers of Sirat, and you can see Laxe and his films have the kind of pedigree that helps make an arthouse director a success at Cannes. But he had to start somewhere.

Laxe got going with his debut feature, You All Are Captains. It premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight (Quinzaine des réalisateurs) section at Cannes in 2010, winning the FIPRESCI Prize.

The Cannes pathway to success is not new. Jane Campion has walked it. Australian Rolf de Heer has, too. As have the Dardenne brothers, Ken Loach, Ruben Östlund, and Yorgos Lanthimos, amongst others.

All of these directors have been driven to tell their stories in their own way for the big screen, and often they have had to overcome seemingly insurmountable hurdles to get their first film made.

It’s something every filmmaker struggles with.

Not every NZ filmmaker wants to make a film that gets into Cannes, though. And not every New Zealand film that gets made is Cannes fare, as witnessed by the total lack of New Zealand films screening there since the last one, Christine Jeffs’ Rain, in the sidebar Director’s Fortnight in 2001.

The last New Zealand film to screen in official competition at Cannes was Jane Campion’s The Piano in 1993, while Vincent Ward has had three films screen in main competition at Cannes, two NZ features in Vigil (1984) and The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1991), and international production Map of the Human Heart (1993).

What Sirat gave me, though, is confidence that cinema still has a place amid the fragmentation of screen audiences—it’s a film crafted to be seen on the big screen, with an audience. And its cinematic language is ever-present.

I also have great faith that another New Zealander will find their way into one of the sidebars or the main competition in Cannes at some point in the future, even though it’s never been tougher for filmmakers than it is now. It’s well overdue. But it will require putting aside the commercial imperative and committing wholeheartedly to artistic endeavour. And who knows, it might break even if it’s lucky.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 26 February 2026