Two Argentine films, Kill the Jockey and Reas, were lauded by the 72nd San Sebastián Film Festival with awards over the weekend.

Luis Ortega’s Kill the Jockey won the Horizontes Latinos Prize for the best Latin American film. The film was chosen “for the conviction and freedom with which it takes risks, its formal and aesthetic search that crosses diverse genres with passion and originality, and for the unforgettable creatures that inhabit it,” according to the jury statement.

“This award shows once again that Argentine cinema is watched, enjoyed, exported, that it adds value, attracts investments, and brings money to the country”, said lead actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, who received the prize and gave a fiery speech against President Javier Milei’s austerity policies closing around the Argentine audiovisual industry. 

The dire situation of the Argentine film industry prompted a protest at the festival’s main theater last weekend, joined by festival director José Luis Rebordinos who said that the government’s actions amounted to “dismantling” it.

“They may try, but they will not destroy us. We will not erase our memories or our future. They should know that all the love that emerges from coming together to film the movies of our country will always be much stronger than all their contempt,” Pérez Biscayart said.

Kill the Jockey, a story about an eccentric and self-destructive jockey, was recently selected by the Argentine Film Academy to represent Argentina at the Oscars and the Spanish Goya Awards. The film premiered last Thursday and is currently playing in theaters in Argentina. 

Meanwhile, renowned playwright Lola Arias’ second feature film Reas picked up the Sebastiane Prize, which awards LGBTQIA+ films at the festival. Premiered at the 74th Forum of the Berlinale Film Festival earlier this year, Reas (Spanish term for women prisoners) brings together stories of cis women and trans people who have been in prison, in a reinvention of the musical genre in documentary format, mixing the former inmates’ personal stories and experiences with music and choreography.