Cane River (film)

Cane River
2020 re-release poster
Directed byHorace B. Jenkins
Written byHorace B. Jenkins
Produced byHorace B. Jenkins
Starring
  • Richard Romain
  • Tommye Myrick
CinematographyGideon Manasseh
Edited byDebi Moore
Music by
  • Leroy Glover
  • Phillip Manuel
Production
companies
  • HBJ Productions
  • HBJ Legacy Foundation
Distributed byOscilloscope (2020 re-release)
Release dates
  • 1982 (1982) (New Orleans)
  • October 22, 2018 (2018-10-22) (remastered)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Cane River is a 1982 American romantic drama film that was lost until its rediscovery in 2013 and its subsequent re-release in 2018 and beyond. It was written, produced, and directed by Horace B. Jenkins. The film features the lives of African Americans in the US state of Louisiana. While the film premiered in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1982, Horace Jenkins died before the film could be released in New York City and beyond. The film was considered lost until a negative was recovered in 2013.

The film was subsequently restored, and a digitally remastered version of the film screened at the 2018 New Orleans Film Festival on October 22, 2018, after having been unseen for 36 years. Distributor Oscilloscope released it in select theaters in the United States in February 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was available via virtual cinema before premiering on The Criterion Collection's The Criterion Channel in May 2020. In the following August, Cane River was released on home video.

Following its re-release, Cane River received critical acclaim, being highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.