“In an age of image inundation—when the violence of fascist regimes is on full display—revisiting Cole’s oeuvre serves as a reminder of the power of acknowledging what lays before you.”—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Raoul Peck’s new documentary Ernest Cole: Lost and Found chronicles the life and work of Ernest Cole, one of the first Black freelance photographers in South Africa. Cole’s early pictures, shocking at the time of their first publication, revealed to the world Black life under apartheid.
Cole fled South Africa in 1966 and lived in exile in the U.S., where he photographed extensively in New York City, as well as the American South, fascinated by the ways this country could be at times so vastly different and at others eerily similar to the segregated culture of his homeland. During this period, he published his landmark book of photographs denouncing the apartheid, House of Bondage which, while banned in South Africa, cemented Cole’s place as one of the great photographers of his time at the age of 27.
After his death, more than 60,000 of his 35mm film negatives were inexplicably discovered in a bank vault in Stockholm, Sweden. Most considered these forever lost, especially the thousands of pictures Cole shot in the U.S. Telling his own story through his writings, the recollections of those closest to him, and the lens of his uncompromising work, the film is a reintroduction of a pivotal Black artist to a new generation.
Winner of the L’Oeil d’or Prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. 2024, France, DCP, 105 minutes. Recommended for 16+
Talk Cinema is programmed by the esteemed film critic and film curator Harlan Jacobson featuring a sneak preview screening of an art-house film prior to its release followed by a discussion. Be the first to see the latest films and to share your impressions.
Past films have included Triangle of Sadness, Close, Spencer, The Worst Person in the World, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Two Popes, The Farewell, Moonlight, Shoplifters, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, and Lady Bird.