Manuel Trujillo Durán (8 January 1871 – 14 March 1933) was a Venezuelan photographer who pioneered film in Venezuela.

Manuel María Segundo de la Trinidad Trujillo Durán was born in Maracaibo, Zulia, a prosperous city in northwest Venezuela, on 8 January 1871, to José Trinidad Trujillo and María del Carmen Durán.

[3] At age 14, Trujillo began studying at the Colegio Federal de Varones, where he excelled in arts and sciences.

[5] In 1896, Trujillo founded his "El rayo de luz" (English: "The ray of light") photography studio at 6 Venezuela Street, in front of the Baralt Theatre.

[9] For many years[note 1] both official records and the general public believed that Trujillo had brought the technology to Venezuela himself.

[13] It is also possible that Trujillo produced the first Venezuelan films, shown in Maracaibo in 1897,[9] or that he worked on them with his brother Guillermo.

[15]:55 Trujillo Durán continued to work in film through the decade, but sparsely: he operated projectors at several locations, including as the duo 'Trujillo & March' at the Baralt Theatre, where he is documented in 1906 and 1908; at the University of the Andes in 1907; and around the country for Pathé in 1908 and 1909.

[1][9][11] Film scholar Arturo Serrano wrote an article that discussed this, saying there are "two tendencies" in the nation's history.