‘The Wound’ f ilmmakers want to inspire ‘risk takers’

THE filmmakers behind controversial movie The Wound (Inxeba) hope to motivate aspiring producers in the country to take risks when telling South African stories.

The Wound was selected by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) as South Africa’s pick to be submitted for next year’s Academy Awards, known as The Oscars, in the United States.

Director John Trengove said the motion picture would hopefully inspire filmmakers not to make crowd-pleasing movies but to take risks.

“We never once thought we’d make a crowdpleasing film‚ let alone one that would represent South Africa at the 2018 Oscars,” he said.

“I hope this encourages other filmmakers to take risks and to express something of our uniquely South African experience.”

The Wound is about a gay love story – told entirely in Xhosa – and mostly a journey to initiate a group of teenagers into manhood.

It stars artist Nakhane Touré and Niza Jay Ncoyini. The movie has attracted both acclaim and criticism since the release of its trailer.

The Wound (Inxeba) will compete at the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

NFVF marketing head Peter Kwele congratulated the creators of the movie.

“It is important for the content we produce to disrupt and propel audiences to introspect and the film’s focus on important aspects of our culture and traditions – while addressing topical issues of identity‚ masculinity and sexuality – does just that,” Kwele said.

“I hope that we as South Africans will engage constructively around these issues.”

Producers Elias Ribeiro and Cait Pansegrouw said they were glad the effort that went into making the film was bearing fruit.

“It’s a film that was five years in the making‚ from inception‚ and it is one that all South Africans can be proud of‚” Pansegrouw said.

It is due for release in February.