Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

Play trailer

1:52

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

2024

1h 46m

Documentary

Biography

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

97%

Tomatometer

38 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.

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.

Read Critics Reviews

Annabel Bai Jackson

Sight & Sound

Nov 5

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)

03/09/2025

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

03/08/2025

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

Shane Slater

Awards Radar

Dec 16

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)

05/16/2025

...a captivating and hypnotic documentary...[Full review in Spanish]

Go to Full Review

Paula Arantzazu Ruiz

Cinemanía (Spain)

05/14/2025

3/5

Peck works with diverse materials—including actor and poet Lakeith Stanfield as the narrative voice, playing Cole... to give solidity to a story replete with more than a few gaps. [Full review in Spanish]

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Raoul Peck

Director

LaKeith Stanfield

Ernest Cole

Raoul Peck

Writer

Raoul Peck

Producer

Tamara Rosenberg

Producer

Laurence Lascary

Line Producer

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

97%

87%

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in the Service of Mind

83%

%

Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in the Service of Mind

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in the Service of Mind

Modernism, Inc.: The Eliot Noyes Design Story

%

%

Modernism, Inc.: The Eliot Noyes Design Story

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Modernism, Inc.: The Eliot Noyes Design Story

How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer

100%

96%

How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer

Watchlist

TRAILER

for How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer

Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse

100%

99%

Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found: Trailer 1

1:52

View more videos

View more photos

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