event

IDFA premiere of

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

Following the influential exhibition Ernest Cole House of Bondage at Foam, we are proud to collaborate with IDFA during the Dutch premiere of the new film Ernest Cole: Lost and Found.

Join us on 17 November at the Carré with an introduction by Foam managing editor & curator Katy Hundertmark, followed by a screening of the acclaimed documentary.

About the documentary

In the late 1960s, photographer Ernest Cole’s eye-opening photobook House of Bondage gave an insider’s perspective on apartheid and its impact on Black South Africans like himself. It shocked the world. In the 1980s Cole fell into oblivion, however, partly because his photographic negatives appeared to have been lost. But in 2017 many of them were rediscovered.

Director Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) looks back on Cole’s work and life through the photographer’s lens. The voice-over is based on texts written by Cole, who died in poverty, but the starring role is reserved for his phenomenal photography.

While living in exile in the United States he continued to photograph Black communities in urban and rural areas. Potential clients sadly didn’t recognize the urgency of his work; his observations of increasing similarities between racism in the US and South Africa was clearly an unwelcome message.

Cole’s observations have only gained in value with time. Euphoria about the freedom he anticipated in the US gave way to disappointment and homesickness. Ernest Cole, Lost and Found won the L’Oeil d’or for best documentary at Cannes.

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South Africa, 1960s © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos

About Ernest Cole House of Bondage at Foam

Exhibited during 2023 at Foam, the show Ernest Cole House of Bondage showcased the rediscovery of 60.000 negatives and contact sheets in the safety deposit boxes of a Swedish bank in 2017. Besides (colour) images from his time in America, the archive contains unpublished photographs and contact sheets from House of Bondage. The exhibition in Foam was the first large scale overview of Cole’s work to include parts of his retrieved archive.

As one of the first Black freelance photographers, Cole offered with his work an unprecedented view from the inside. Born in a township, Cole experienced the strains of apartheid first-hand. By having himself reclassified from ‘black’ to ‘coloured’, he managed to access places where most South Africans were banned. He risked his life exposing the grim reality of racial segregation, by documenting miners inside the mines, police controls and the demolition of townships, among others.

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South Africa 1960s © Ernest Cole/Magnum Photos

About IDFA

As a leading international documentary institute, IDFA stands firm in enhancing and improving the international documentary climate. The 37th annual festival takes place from November 14–24.

Creative documentary films provide insight into society, open eyes, and stimulate critical thinking. IDFA is committed to addressing urgent social issues by presenting documentaries from around the world that reflect on the most pressing questions of our time.

The House of Bondage exhibition was made in collaboration with the Ernest Cole Family Trust and Magnum Photos.


Black and white image of photogrpher Ernest Cole

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IDFA premiere of

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found