Kill the Jockey
El Jockey, Argentina/Spain/USA/Mexico/Denmark, 2024. Directed by Luis Ortega. Starring Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Úrsula Corberó, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Daniel Fanego, Osmar Núñez, Roberto Carnaghi, Luis Ziembrowski, Jorge Prado, Adriana Aguirre, Roly Serrano, Mariana Di Giarolamo. Running time 96′
After its assault on the Golden Lion at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, an actual marathon awaits El Jockey, scheduled for the Toronto and San Sebastian Film Festivals, where Luis Ortega will be accompanied by much of the cast, in which – in addition to the executive production of Benicio Del Toro – stands out the former Tokyo of The House of Paper, Ursula Corberó, finally taking on a leading role after so many series and choral films. ‘I realised a dream by participating in a project by Luis Ortega,’ said the actress, moved. ‘I never imagined that my first film festival would be Venice‘. A sentiment shared by her director, who is thrilled to be on the Lido (‘all my heroes have passed through there‘), where she arrives 25 years after the debut of Caja Negra and after having brought to Cannes 2018 her previous The Angel of Crime, an Albiceleste nominee for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and in competition at the Un Certain Regard and for the Queer Palm. At the Lido, the film is also in competition for the Queer Lion Award. El Jockey will arrive in Argentinian cinemas on September 26th, before streaming on Disney+. El Jockey is the surreal story of poor Remo Manfredini, a horse racing legend with eccentric and self-destructive behaviour. With him is Abril (Corberó), also a jockey and expecting the couple’s first child, but torn between the desire to carry on with the pregnancy or continue racing. On the day of the most important race of his career – the one that would free him from his debts to the Mafia boss Sirena, for whom they both work – Remo, however, has a severe accident. After disappearing from the hospital and wandering the streets of Buenos Aires, the jockey strips himself of his identity and begins to discover who he is meant to be. But Sirena wants him to be found, dead or alive…
