Luis Ortega ’s absurdist comedy “ Kill the Jockey ,” which plays in Venice competition, is set in Argentina’s horse-racing community. “It’s a wild, wild world,” he tells Variety . “I encountered some very exotic jockeys and horse owners and I thought it’s so great. They’re so crazy and exciting, and [the jockeys] risk their life every race.”

The central character, Remo Manfredini, is clearly psychologically damaged – abusing drugs and alcohol to the extent that we see him fall off his horse even before it leaves the gate – but nonetheless he retains the self-possession and panache of a matador. “There is a lot of pride in that attitude,” says the Argentine filmmaker, whose previous film “El Angel,” about a baby-faced killer, premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.

Remo, portrayed by Nahuel Pérez Biscayart , always keeps his race-track associates at a distance and can seem distant. “The only way I could relate to that is being a director in this industry and how you feel disconnected and lost in terms of what everyone else is talking about and what it truly means to make a movie, or ride a horse in his case,” he says.

Discussing Pérez Biscayart, a Cesar winner for “120 BPM (Beats Per Minute),” Ortega says: “He’s definitely the best Argentinian actor we have. He’s on a completely different level. He’s a genius. He just understands the craziness of it all, and he’s comfortable with being absurd.”

The film is infused with a satirical tone that portrays Argentinian society as a den of corruption and violence. “I use that a lot because I just can’t take life too seriously if I want to cope. That’s like a survival mechanism that is very helpful for me, and I try to have the character have that point of view in order to overcome his own challenges,” he says.

While set in Buenos Aires, the film isn’t a typical Argentinian movie. “I have this city in my blood, but I could have set this in Russia. It’s just about people. It’s about people,” Ortega says. “So, I’m okay with the fact that it doesn’t belong anywhere. The cinematographer is from Finland, Timo Salminen, and he’s worked on every Aki Kaurismäki film, and he gave a completely personal touch to the film, and that was amazing. It just looks very distinctive, and it doesn’t look much like other Argentinian films. So, I’m okay with not having an identity in that respect.”

One of the unusual aspects of the film is the recurring presence of infants. Remo’s mob boss is always carrying a baby, and Remo’s girlfriend Abril – played by “Money Heist’s” Úrsula Corberó – is expecting. This aligns with one of the film’s themes, which is how birth and death are interconnected, an idea borrowed from William S. Burroughs. “He talks about how there must be death in order for there to be birth,” Ortega explains.

The baby obsession was also fueled by his personal experience. “I was about to become a father, and I was very excited about that. It was just something that was constantly on my mind, you know, all the baby things,” he says.

Ironically, Remo experiences a sense of liberation only when he is behind bars. “I think when you're not caught up in trying to conform or interact with the world you inhabit, you naturally break free from all these expectations. I know people who have been in prison, and it's happened to them. They've completely transformed,” he remarks.

Next up for Ortega is a film about a cocaine-using priest in Bolivia. “It’s about a priest who encounters a eccentric actress, and they fall in love, and she introduces him to smoking crack,” Ortega says. “Then he goes to Bolivia to work with the individuals who operate underground. They believe in God when they’re above ground, and when they descend underground, they have this statue of the Devil, because underground, that’s where the Devil reigns. So they believe in both God and the Devil, and that’s a very intriguing world. And there’s a lot of dynamite. You know, in Bolivia, they sell dynamite as easily as cigarettes. And I love that. I love that.”