Luis Ortega’s Kill the Jockey will be Argentina’s submission in this year’s Academy Awards and Spanish Goya Awards, the Argentine Academy of Film Arts and Sciences announced on Monday. The announcement was made on the Academy’s YouTube channel during a ceremony that included a celebration of the institution’s 20th anniversary. The event featured members from the first Board of Directors, including directors Marcelo Piñeyro and Daniel Burman.
Kill the Jockey , which premiered at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year, will compete in the Best International Feature and Best Ibero-American Film categories at the Oscars and the Goya Awards, respectively. Ortega’s latest work tells the story of Remo, a legendary jockey equal parts eccentric and self-destructive, and his pregnant partner Abril, also a jockey, who is weighing whether to have an abortion or continue her racing career. Both are employed by a powerful mobster, Sirena.
When Remo accidentally kills one of Sirena’s prized race horses, he puts out a hit on the titular jockey while Abril races against time to find him in Buenos Aires. The film stars Nahuel Pérez Biscayart ( 120 Beats Per Minute ), Ursula Corberó ( Money Heist, Lift ) and Daniel Giménez Cacho ( Bardo , Zama ). Kill the Jockey was produced by Rei Pictures, Ortega’s own company El Despacho, Infinity Hill ( Puan , Argentina 1985 ), Warner Music Entertainment, and Exile, and counts Hollywood icon Benicio del Toro as one of its executi.