THE WOUND

THE WOUND
D: John Trengove
SA/D/NL/FR 2016, 88 min., OmU

South Afrika. A group of young men from the tribes of Xhosa is trapped with the eldest in a shed village in the mountains. The sons are running through a multi-week initiation ritual, which is traditionally intended to mark the transition to manhood. Weeded in white and cut off from the outside world, the boys are expected to recover from a painful circumcision process while at the same time internalizing the strictly patriarchal norms of the community.

They are accompanied by men who have passed through the ritual many years ago. One of them is the camp worker Xolani, who is asked by an influential man from his village, to accompany his rebellious son Kwanda through the initiation rupture. Kwanda, who tries to lead a self-determined life in Johannesburg, quickly gets behind the secret of his mentor: Xolani loves another man, the masquerade threatens to fall.

John Trengove
John Trengove, a South-African moviemaker was born in 1978. He directed theater – and TV-projects, documentaries, as well as short films and commercials. In 2010 his miniseries HOPEVILLE was was nominated at the International Emmy Awards. His feature short BHOKHWE (THE GOAT) was screened 2014 in Berlin and Toronto, occupied Trangove himself with the subject of male circumcision. THE WOUND is his first long feature film.

Filmography:
2006 Hard Copy (TV-series)
2007 Bay of Plenty (TV-series)
2008 The Lab (TV-series)
2009 Hopeville (TV-series)
2009 Say Hi to Bangkok (short film)
2010 A Country Imagined (TV-series)
2010 Intersexions (TV-mini-series)
2011 Disco 3000 (short movie)
2012 Shuga (TV-mini-series)
2014 iBhokhwe (short film)
2014 Swartwater (TV-series)

Genre: feature film
Director: John Trengove
Producer: Marie Dubas, Michael Eckelt, Olaf Grunert, Bianca Isaac, Björn Koll, Eric Lagesse, Cait Pansegrouw, Elias Ribeiro, Trent, Claudia Tronnier, Anette Unger, Batana Vundla
DoP: Paul Ozgur
Cutter: Matthew Swanepoel
Soundtrack: Joao Orecchia

Festivals and awards (selection):
MoMA March 2017
Sundance Film Festival 2017: In competition: World Cinema Dramatic
Berlinale 2017: opening Movie section Panorama, Teddy-Award-Nominee (best feature movie)