The Wound (“Inxeba”), directed by John Trengove, has been selected as South Africa’s submission in the foreign-language category at the 2018 Oscars.

The film explores tradition and masculinity, and the clash between age-old rituals and modernity. The Wound stars musician and novelist Nakhane Touré as Xolani, a lonely factory worker who joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini), a defiant initiate from the city, discovers his mentor’s secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel.

The Wound is the first feature from writer-director John Trengove, and is co-written by Trengove, Thando Mgqolozana and Malusi Bengu. The Xhosa initiation ritual which forms the landscape of the film is also the subject of ‘Inxeba’ co-writer Mgqolozana’s novel, ‘A Man Who Is Not a Man’.

The Wound premiered at this year’s 2017 Sundance Film Festival and later opened Berlinale Panorama; and went on to win a string of awards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubSlj-G4P6I