IDFA: Ernest Cole, Lost and Found - Raoul Peck

Photos

With his shocking book House of Bondage , photographer Ernest Cole showed from the inside what apartheid meant for black South Africans like himself in the late 1960s. The world was shocked. In the 1980s, Cole fell into oblivion, partly because his negatives seemed to have been lost. In 2017, a large part was found. Through the lens of Cole, who died in poverty, director Raoul Peck ( I Am Not Your Negro) looks back on his work and life. The voice-over is based on texts by Cole, the leading role is for his phenomenal photos. In the United States, he continued to photograph black communities, both in the cities and in the countryside. Clients unfortunately did not see the urgency of it. The fact that he increasingly saw similarities with the racism in his own country was not a welcome message. In retrospect, Cole's observations are of great value. Euphoria about the freedom he expected to find in America gradually gave way to disappointment and homesickness. At Cannes, Ernest Cole, Lost and Found was awarded the L'Oeil d'or for best documentary.