# Kill the Jockey

Kill the Jockey (Spanish: El jockey) is a 2024 sports comedy-drama thriller film co-written and directed by Luis Ortega, starring Nahuel Pérez Biscayart alongside Úrsula Corberó and Daniel Giménez Cacho.
The film premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, where it competed for the Golden Lion and the Queer Lion. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.

## Premise

Jockeys Abril and Remo race for a powerful mobster named Sirena until Remo accidentally kills a valuable race horse. Abril must find Remo in Buenos Aires and bring him to safety before Sirena tracks him down.

## Cast

* Nahuel Pérez Biscayart as Remo Manfredini/Dolores "Lola", a jockey who faces substance use issues.
* Úrsula Corberó as Abril, Remo's pregnant girlfriend and a fellow jockey debating whether to continue her career or start a family
* Daniel Giménez Cacho as Rubén Sirena, a mobster
* Daniel Fanego [es] as Fanego, Sirena's henchman
* Osmar Núñez as Luis, Sirena's henchman
* Roberto Carnaghi as Oscar, Sirena's henchman
* Luis Ziembrowski [es]
* Jorge Prado
* Adriana Aguirre
* Mariana Di Girólamo as Ana, a fellow jockey who later starts an affair with Abril
* Roly Serrano [es]

## Release

In July 2024, Kill the Jockey was announced as a main competition entry at that year's Venice International Film Festival. The film was also selected for screenings in the Centrepiece section of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and in the Horizontes Latinos section of the 72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival.
The film has been selected for the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 under the World Cinema section.
Latin American distribution rights for Kill the Jockey were acquired by Star Distribution in August 2024. The film debuted theatrically in Argentina on 26 September 2024, followed by a streaming release in Latin America on Disney+. It is scheduled to be released theatrically in Spain by Caramel Films on 30 May 2025.

## Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 20 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter underscored the film—otherwise described as an "equestrian-themed psychological thriller-comedy-whatsit"—to be "heavy on style, light on character".
Wendy Ide of ScreenDaily declared the film "a playful, shape-shifting, questioning journey that refuses to be neatly pinned down".
Guillermo Courau of La Nación rated the film 4 out of 5 stars ('very good'), writing that it is a film in which Ortega "manages to merge concerns and aesthetics in an almost perfect way".
The Argentine Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences chose the film as Argentina's submission to the Academy Award for Best International Film and to the Goya Award for Best Ibero-American Film.

### Accolades

| Award | Ceremony date | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| Venice International Film Festival | 7 September 2024 | Golden Lion | Kill the Jockey | Nominated |
| Venice International Film Festival | 7 September 2024 | Premio CinemaSarà | Kill the Jockey | Special Mention |
| Venice International Film Festival | 7 September 2024 | Edipo Re Award | Kill the Jockey | Won |
| San Sebastián International Film Festival | 28 September 2024 | Horizontes Latinos Award | Kill the Jockey | Won |
| Forqué Awards | 14 December 2024 | Best Latin-American Film | Kill the Jockey | Nominated |
| Goya Awards | 8 February 2025 | Best Ibero-American Film | Kill the Jockey | Nominated |
| Platino Awards | 27 April 2025 | Best Ibero-American Film | Kill the Jockey | Pending |
| Platino Awards | 27 April 2025 | Best Director | Luis Ortega | Pending |
| Platino Awards | 27 April 2025 | Best Screenplay | Luis Ortega, Rodolfo Palacios, Fabián Casas | Pending |
| Platino Awards | 27 April 2025 | Best Actor | Nahuel Pérez Biscayart | Pending |
| Platino Awards | 27 April 2025 | Best Actress | Úrsula Corberó | Pending |
| Platino Awards | 27 April 2025 | Best Supporting Actor | Daniel Fanego | Pending |
| Platino Awards | 27 April 2025 | Best Film Editing | Rosario Suárez, Yibrán Asaud | Pending |
| Platino Awards | 27 April 2025 | Best Art Direction | Germán Naglieri, Julia Freid | Pending |
| Platino Awards | 27 April 2025 | Best Sound | Guido Berenblum | Pending |