Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

Ernest Cole’s photographs exposed the brutality of South African apartheid in the mid 1960s. As his work gained international recognition, he fled to the United States.

In New York City, where his work focussed on African American urban life, Cole had some success. But in the early 1970s he abandoned photography and led a marginal life until his death in 1990. Almost 30 years later 60,000 of Cole’s photos were found in a Swedish bank vault providing grounds for a reassessment of his remarkable talent.

“a treasure beyond the images that miraculously survived, and none is better equipped to tell this complex yet revealing story than Peck himself”, Jason Gorber, POV Magazine

Awards and Nominations

Winner, Golden Eye: Cannes Film Festival, 2024
Nominee, Best Writing: International Documentary Association, 2024
Nominee, Best Feature Documentary: International Documentary Association, 2024
Nominee, Bronze Horse for Best Documentary: Stockholm Film Festival, 2024
Nominee, Outstanding Cinematography: Black Reel Awards, 2025
Nominee, Best International Documentary, Calgary International Film Festival, 2024
Nominee, Outstanding Achievement in Editing: Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US, 2025
Nominee, Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score: Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US, 2025

Director

Raoul Peck

Film Details

2024, 106 min
France

Languages

English

Editor

Alexandra Strauss

Cinematographers

Junji Naagano, Mark Rankin, BrianWolfgang Held, Moses Tau

Producers

Tamara Rosenberg, Laurence Lascary, Remi Grellety, Olivier Pere