John Trengove

Eastern Cape, South Africa. A lonely factory worker, Xolani, takes time off his job to assist during an annual Xhosa circumcision initiation into manhood. In a remote mountain camp that is off limits to women, young men, painted in white ochre, recuperate as they learn the masculine codes of their culture. In this environment of machismo and aggression, Xolani cares for a defiant initiate from Johannesburg, Kwanda, who quickly learns Xolani's best kept secret, that he is in love with another man.

Ralphie is an Uber driver and aspiring bodybuilder who is inducted into a libertarian masculinity cult and loses his grip on reality when his repressed desires are awakened.

Ukwaluka is an ancient circumcision ritual for young men still widely practiced by the Xhosa in South Africa. It marks the transition from youth to manhood. A boy who has just undergone circumcision sits in semi-darkness in a simple hut on a hill, far away from the village, as prescribed by the initiation ritual. He is covered from head to toe with a paint made from clay which makes him look as white as a goat. This should be a period of healing, but he is cold and in pain. His grandfather, who is supposed to induct him into his new life, has not yet appeared. According to the belief system of the Xhosa, Ukwaluka also purges the boy from homosexual desires, for which there is no place in the world of adults.

In 1989, Mozambique is a country ruined by civil war. The train that connects Nampula to Malawi is the only hope for people willing to risk their lives to exchange a few bags of salt for sugar. Running slowly over sabotaged tracks, the journey is filled with obstacles and violence. Mariamu, a frequent traveler, shares her trip with her friend Rosa, a nurse who is going to her new hospital, living the reality of war for the first time, Lieutenant Taiar, who only knows the reality of his military life, and another soldier, Salomão, with whom he doesn’t get along. Amongst bullets and laughter, stories of love and war unfold as the train advances towards the next stop.

The story of the decline of the Soares family in the final months of the 19th century. Isabel is the dying mother, and her daughters are Maria and Ana. The three women try hard to forget about their pasts in the coffee farm and face the industrial times that start to take over Brazil.

Anyone who grows up in Sandton spends a lot of time hanging out at pools and drug-filled parties – for this part of Johannesburg is the richest spot in the whole of Africa. Necktie Youth portrays this first post-apartheid gilded youth in striking black-and-white. Soft colours are reserved for their childhood memories of the early years of the rainbow nation. White 19-year-old Emily did not understand the codes of their set and could not take the pace of the ever-changing, fleeting liaisons, says the super cool, black and privileged September when he tries to explain to a TV reporter why Emily hung herself in her parents’ garden. She even positioned her camera in such a way that her suicide could be streamed live.

An improvised tragi-queer film about an older gay man who was once the (caviar and) toast of the gay rave scene. He takes care of the homes of residents in a high-rise Johannesburg suburb, from older Jewish women to messier gay men. The houseboy is obsessively in love with his client, the celebrated captain of the Flamingos synchronized swimming team. He is the ultimate bunny boiler in the bunny suit. Rejected by the object of his affections, he takes refuge with a kinky lesbian/queer couple. Tensions rise as he drives a man-sized wedge in their relationship.

Hopeville tells the story of Amos, a reformed alcoholic on a mission to forge a relationship with his estranged son, Themba. When father and son arrive in the dusty town of Hopeville, they discover a mean little community where apathy, fear and suspicion are the order of the day. When Amos decides to restore the public swimming pool so that his son can purse a swimming career, he is met with skepticism and resistance from the town's authorities and its inhabitants. Through patience, determination and above all courage, Amos' selfless acts ripples through Hopeville, inspiring others to take action and to do what they know is right. Slowly but surely, good ripples through Hopeville, transforming the town and its inhabitants for good.

After experiencing an unspeakable tragedy, a young suburban couples move to the small coastal town of Swartwater. They soon become embroiled with the local population and their intrigues and realize that all is not as it seems.

A struggling tabloid finds new direction when a crime reporter takes the helm and pivots writers back to bold investigative journalism.

Daring drama, set across multiple countries, that follows the lives of young people as they encounter love, lust, and the challenges of growing up.

In a dusty small South African town, a man in search of forgiveness tries to rebuild a relationship with the son he abandoned when he was a child, while renovating a run-down outdoor swimming pool. A feel-good series with biting humor that reflects both the ills of South African society and its resilience.