Luis Ortega’s Kill the Jockey has been selected as an official entrant in the Venice Film Festival, its artistic president Alberto Barbera announced on Tuesday. 

Argentina’s lone film in the festival’s main program, Ortega’s latest work tells the story of Remo — a legendary jockey equal parts eccentric and self-destructive, who disappears from the hospital after an accident.  

Kill the Jockey, which will be released in Argentina in September, stars Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (120 Beats Per Minute), Ursula Corberó (Money Heist, Lift) and Daniel Giménez Cacho (Bardo, Zama). 

“Presenting Kill the Jockey in Venice’s official competition is the most wonderful premiere our film can have,” said Ortega in a press statement. “All of my heroes went through there.”

Ortega directed his first feature Caja Negra (1999), starring Dolores Fonzi, at the age of 19. In the decades since, he has made several acclaimed films, including The Angel (2018), about real-life Argentine serial killer Carlos Robledo Puch, which premiered at Cannes and topped the box office in Argentina that year.

“Working with Luis Ortega is such a powerful experience, and the fact that [Kill the Jockey] will be screened in a festival with so much history fills me with joy,” said lead star Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, who added that there is “something profoundly cosmic and human” about the movie.

Kill the Jockey will also be the first major film role for actress Úrsula Corberó, star of the Spanish Netflix show Money Heist. 

“I already fulfilled a dream by participating in a Luis Ortega project,” she said. “But I never would have imagined that my first film festival would be in Venice. I’m floating on a cloud and very moved.”

Corberó plays Abril, Remo’s pregnant partner and a fellow jockey, who must decide whether to carry to term or keep racing.

The film 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 executive producers. 

Kill the Jockey received funding from and support from Argentina’s national film institute (INCAA) and Buenos Aires City’s Cash Rebate program.

The Venice Film Festival announced on Tuesday that its line-up will include films by Pedro Almodovar, Tim Burton, Walter Salles, Luca Guadagnino and Pablo Larrain, as well as Todd Phillips’ Joker 2: Folie à Deux, a sequel to his 2019 Golden Lion winner Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.