Luis Ortega’s Kill the Jockey was the major winner at the Argentine Academy’s Sur Awards, which were announced on Wednesday night. 

The film, which premiered at the Venice film festival last year and was Argentina’s Oscar bid for the international feature category, topped the 11 categories it was nominated for, including best fiction film and best director for Ortega. Nahuel Pérez Biscayart took best actor, while veteran star Daniel Fanego, who passed away last September, won the category of best supporting actor.

Ortega’s latest work tells the story of Remo (played by Biscayart), a legendary jockey equal parts eccentric and self-destructive, who disappears from hospital after a horseracing accident, and is then chased by a mobster.   

Maria Zanetti’s coming-of-age tale Alemania followed with four Sur awards. Two went to the film’s lead Maite Aguilar, who won both best lead actress and best new actress performance for her role as 16-year-old Nina. Growing up in an unstable family, she decides to spend a semester in Germany against her parents’ wishes. The film, a local underdog that remained in theaters for more than 13 weeks and sold more than 15,000 tickets, also won best first feature and best supporting actress for María Ucedo.

The best animated film award went to Gigantes, by Gonzalo Gutiérrez “G.G,” while Cecilia Kang’s A Boat Departed from Me Taking Me Away won best documentary feature. 

Kang’s film, which taps into the legacy of Korean women in Argentina, had been used by presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni and Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger to justify slashing state funding for local films. They incorrectly claimed that only 80 people saw it. In fact, it sold almost 1,000 tickets at Sala Lugones alone, and later played for five months at the MALBA film theater. In total, it had over 4,500 spectators.

Held for the first time outside of Buenos Aires, the ceremony at the Teatro Libertador San Martín in Córdoba included a Lifetime Achievement award given by the city to actor and comedian Guillermo Francella. The Academy also presented Honorary Sur awards to Oscar-winning art director Eugenio Zanetti and producer Diana Frey.   

The complete Sur Awards are listed below:

Best Fiction Film: Kill the Jockey, by Luis Ortega

Best Director: Kill the Jockey, by Luis Ortega

Best Leading Actor: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, for Kill the Jockey

Best Leading Actress: Maite Aguilar, for Alemania

Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Fanego, for Kill the Jockey

Best Supporting Actress: María Ucedo, for Alemania

Best New Actor: Pehuén Pedre, for Simon of the Mountain

Best New Actress: Maite Aguilar, for Alemania

Best First Feature: Alemania, by María Zanetti

Best Animated Film: Gigantes, by Gonzalo Gutierrez ‘G.G.’

Best Documentary Feature: A Boat Departed from Me Taking Me Away, by Cecilia Kang

Best Original Screenplay: Luis Ortega, Rodolfo Palacios, and Fabián Casas, for Kill the Jockey

Best Adapted Screenplay: Paula Hernández, Leonel D’Agostino, and Eugenia Ratcliffe, for A Ravaging Wind

Best Cinematography: Timo Salminen, for Kill the Jockey

Best Editing: Hernán Roselli, Jimena Garcia Molt, and Federico Rotstein, for Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed

Best Original Music: Sune Wagner, for Kill the Jockey

Best Sound: Guido Berenblum, Claus Lynge, and Javier Umpiérrez, for Kill the Jockey

Best Art Direction: Julia Freid and Germán Naglieri, for Kill the Jockey

Best Costume Design: Beatriz Di Benedetto, for Kill the Jockey

Best Makeup and Character Design: Fernanda Cacivio, Angela Garacija, and Malvina Mariani for Kill the Jockey

Best Ibero-American Film: I’m Still Here, by Walter Salles (Brazil)

Best Fiction Series: Coppola, The Manager, by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat