Raoul Peck, known for I Am Not Your Negro (2016), traces the life of photo-grapher Ernest Cole in Ernest Cole: Lost and Found. After publishing a photo book documenting the realities of South African people under apartheid in his twenties, Cole was forgotten by the public and died in poverty and isolation in New York in 1990 while in exile. Peck delves into Cole’s life, as if he wants to dive into Cole’s heart. He calls Cole back to life through about 60,000 negative films that were unexpectedly discovered. The first-person narration is written by Raoul Peck himself (Peck narrates the French version) based on the testimonies of the people he knows, reportage, and notes. Hundreds of harrowing yet moving photographs intertwine with the photographer’s life. What did Ernest Cole witness in America, having fled apartheid? The photographer’s desperate monologue, “I want to go back to my country, but I cannot,” is repeated multiple times. Did Raoul Peck, who fled Haiti at a young age to escape dictatorship, see a reflection of himself in this unfortunate photographer? Ernest Cole: Lost and Found restores Cole’s place as one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century and deservedly so. (SEO Seunghee)