Description
Eight years after his magisterial portrait of James Baldwin I Am Not Your Negro, master documentarian Raoul Peck turns his considered focus to the life and career of South African photographer Ernest Cole. With a vocal performance from LaKeith Stanfield, Peck deftly weaves through the biography of Cole’s life using only his trenchant B&W photographs and impassioned letters and journals. Cole was hailed as a master of singular style for his ability to capture the depredations of life under apartheid and the fissures of Jim Crow American life with immediacy and artistry. Yet for all his success, Cole rarely had stability or steady income. The film unpacks the perplexing trajectory of Cole’s life alongside the troubling mystery of Cole’s archives with stunning effect. Peck’s film captures (and rescues for history) the life of a Black man who managed to make extraordinary art in the face of two distinct and oppressive regimes.
—Rod Armstrong
Raoul Peck was born in Haiti and raised in the Congo, USA, France, and Germany. He studied film at the Academy of Cinema and Television in Berlin. His films include Lumumba (2000), Fatal Assistance (Festival 2013), Murder in Pacot (Festival 2014), I Am Not Your Negro (Doc Stories 2016), and Silver Dollar Road (2023).
Film Details
Language English, Afrikaans, French
Year 2024
Runtime 105
Country France
Director Raoul Peck
Executive Producer Laurence Lascary
Producer Tamara Rosenberg, Raoul Peck
Editor Alexandra Strauss
Cinematographer Wolfgang Held, Moses Tau, Raoul Peck
Music Alexeï Aïgui
Print Source Magnolia Pictures
Closed Captions Closed Captions aren't currently confirmed for this film
Audio Description Audio Descriptions aren't currently confirmed for this film
American Sign Language (ASL) Interpretation American Sign Language Interpretation is not currently scheduled for this film