Daniel Garber talks with Luis Ortega about Kill the Jockey at #TIFF24
Photographs by Jeff Harris
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Remo Manfredini is the top jockey in Buenos Aires and famous across the continent. He has won millions for his boss, a notorious gangster who supports him. He tolerates Remo’s misadventures — he is infamous for driving drunk or stoned — as long as he keeps winning. But when the tides turn, Remo starts losing races, falling off his horses or getting into terrible accidents. His main rival, Abril, one of only a few female jockeys, is also his friend and on-again, off-again lover. When he loses one race too many, he knows he’d better change his ways before they decide to kill the jockey.
Kill the Jockey is also the name of a new Argentinian film about a remarkable jockey who can’t be stopped. It’s hilarious and fantastical, an epic adventure, a romance, a comedy, drama and a bit of a thriller. It’s written and directed by the intensely creative filmmaker Luis Ortega, who I spoke with in 2018 about his previous film El Angel. Kill the Jockey played at Venice to great acclaim and had its North American premiere at TIFF.
I spoke with Luis Ortega, in person, at the Intercontinental Hotel during TIFF.
Kill the Jockey is Argentina’s choice for Best International Feature Oscar.
Daniel Garber talks with Luis Ortega about El Ángel
Adult language, topics.
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Photos by Jeff Harris
Its 1971 in Buenos Aires Argentina. Carlitos is an innocent-looking boy with an angelic face and blonde curls. But this teenager has a strange hobby. He enjoys 
breaking into homes undetected and taking things.
He’s an expert cat burglar, born to steal. He loves what he does, but has no one to share his triumphs with. That is until he meets Ramon. Ramon is bigger, darker, and tougher and comes from a family of 
petty gangsters. Carlitos is smitten, and soon they’re a team – one with homoerotic undertones – and together they wreak havoc across the city. And when guns enter the picture, people start to die. Is Carlitos the devil 
incarnate? Or an angel gone astray?
El Ángel is a new feature film from Argentina written and directed by Luis Ortega. This is Luis’s first film and it features an unknown actor in the title role. El Angel was featured in the Discovery series at TIFF and is opening soon in Toronto.
I spoke to Luis on site at TIFF 18.
El Ángel is Argentina’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.
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