Known Associates Entertainment has acquired all African rights to Raoul Peck’s “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” the Cannes prize-winning documentary about the fearless apartheid-era South African photographer that opens the Joburg Film Festival on March 11.
The acquisition by the fast-growing South African media company is part of a broader plan to ramp up its distribution efforts both on the African continent and in the U.S., beginning with the March 26 theatrical rollout of “Lost and Found” in South Africa.
“It’s probably one of the most important films to come out of South Africa in the last 30 years,” said Known Associates chairperson Joel Chikapa Phiri. “We’re very excited about it, and we’ve got lots of partners that are coming to join with us.”
Described by Variety’s Owen Gleiberman as a “penetrating portrait” of the iconic photographer, “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found” traces the career and life of Cole, who beginning in the late 1950s began chronicling everyday life under apartheid. After fleeing the apartheid regime he arrived in New York City in 1966, where he published his groundbreaking book “House of Bondage,” an astonishing account of life under the racist South African regime.
While that book made Cole a celebrated figure in the world of photography, he struggled to adapt to life as an exile in New York. The film, which features narration by LaKeith Stanfield of words written by Cole, premiered last year at the Cannes Film Festival, where it shared the L’Oeil d’Or prize for best documentary with Ayman El Amir and Nada Riyadh’s “The Brink of Dreams.”
Along with a theatrical release in Africa, Phiri said Known Associates is exploring TVOD options to bring the film into schools and universities across the continent. Peck will be delivering a masterclass this week in Johannesburg at JBX, a three-day industry event running parallel to the Joburg Film Festival, and will also take part in a round-table discussion with leading South African intellectuals on March 13 at Johannesburg’s Wits University.
Speaking to Variety in Johannesburg, Phiri also announced plans for a U.S. theatrical release this fall of “Hunting Jessica Brok,” an action thriller directed by Alistair Orr and produced by Known Associates. It’s the company’s first theatrical release in the U.S., and part of a distribution strategy that will see Known Associates releasing five-six films in U.S. theaters per year, according to Phiri.
The company is also partnering with South Africa’s eMedia, whose holdings include pay-TV broadcaster eTV and it’s eVOD streaming service, to build a U.S.-based platform that will host content from the catalogues of Known Associates Entertainment, eVOD and eTV. Eventually, Phiri added, Known Associates will begin producing content specifically for that platform, which he hopes to launch within the next year.
The Joburg Film Festival runs March 11 – 16.
