Biography

John Trengove is a South African writer and director. His debut feature, The Wound, premiered at Sundance and the Berlinale in 2017. The film, which explores the tension between queer love and traditional culture, received the Sutherland Award at BFI London Film Festival and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature in 2018. His second feature, Manodrome, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Adrien Brody, continues his exploration of masculinity and the violence of repression, and premiered in competition in Berlin in 2023.

Trengove has worked extensively in theatre and television. He directed the cult play The Epicene Butcher at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as well as the opera Nkoli, based on the life of queer activist Simon Nkoli. His miniseries Hopeville received an International Emmy nomination, and he is the recipient of two South African Film and Television Awards for Best Director, as well as an honorary award from the South African Academy of Arts and Sciences. Trengove trained as an actor and studied film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He lives between Cape Town and São Paulo with his husband, filmmaker Marco Dutra.
- IMDb mini biography by: Cadence