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Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

Play trailer 1:52 Poster for Ernest Cole: Lost and Found 2024 1h 46m Documentary Biography Play Trailer Watchlist
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97% Tomatometer 39 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Ernest Cole, a South African photographer was the first to expose the horrors of apartheid to a world audience. His book House of Bondage, published in 1967 when he was only 27 years old, led him into exile in NYC and Europe for the rest of his life, never to find his bearings. Raoul Peck recounts his wanderings, his turmoil as an artist and his anger, on a daily basis, at the silence or complicity of the Western world in the face of the horrors of the Apartheid regime. He also recounts how, in 2017, 60,000 negatives of his work were discovered in the safe of a Swedish bank.
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Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

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Critics Consensus

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found is a devastating yet essential portrait that blends archival sources with sleek direction and engrossing narration to plumb the depths of its subject's inner life and his groundbreaking photographic activism.

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Critics Reviews

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Annabel Bai Jackson Sight & Sound Nov 5, 2025
Peck looks hard into the depths of affliction that both animated and frustrated Cole’s photography, but he does so with a slickness and efficiency that feel estranged from Cole’s annals of pain. Go to Full Review Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Mar 9, 2025
4/5
It’s through his remarkable pictures of South Africa and Black America, however, that we really hear his voice. Go to Full Review Lucy Peters Little White Lies Mar 8, 2025
4/5
In its strongest moments, the film is paced with real tempo – a sense of sophisticated motion that runs in tandem with its subject matter of the concrete, bustling, yet fluid cityscape. Go to Full Review Calum Russell Radio Times Oct 9, 2026
4/5
The result is a ballad of a deeply passionate artist, alienated from the country he fought to change one frame at a time. Go to Full Review Shane Slater Awards Radar Dec 16, 2025
3/4
Through the evocative power of his photos, immersive sound effects and the eloquent narration, Ernest Cole is a mesmerizing act of resurrection through the art of cinema. Go to Full Review Javier Ocaña El Pais (Spain) May 16, 2025
...a captivating and hypnotic documentary...[Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review Read all reviews
Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

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Cast & Crew

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Raoul Peck

Director

LaKeith Stanfield

Ernest Cole

Raoul Peck

Writer

Raoul Peck

Producer

Tamara Rosenberg

Producer

Laurence Lascary

Line Producer

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Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

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Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

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Movie Info

Synopsis Ernest Cole, a South African photographer was the first to expose the horrors of apartheid to a world audience. His book House of Bondage, published in 1967 when he was only 27 years old, led him into exile in NYC and Europe for the rest of his life, never to find his bearings. Raoul Peck recounts his wanderings, his turmoil as an artist and his anger, on a daily basis, at the silence or complicity of the Western world in the face of the horrors of the Apartheid regime. He also recounts how, in 2017, 60,000 negatives of his work were discovered in the safe of a Swedish bank.
Director
Raoul Peck
Producer
Raoul Peck, Tamara Rosenberg
Screenwriter
Raoul Peck, Raoul Peck
Distributor
Magnolia Pictures
Production Co
Arte France Cinéma
Genre
Documentary, Biography
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 22, 2024, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 17, 2025
Box Office (Gross USA)
$57.9K
Runtime
1h 46m
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