Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

dir. Johan Grimonprez
150 min. | In English, French, Dutch, and Russian with English Subtitles

United Nations, 1960: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe, and the U.S. State Department swings into action, sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup.

Director Johan Grimonprez captures the moment when African politics and American jazz collided in this magnificent essay film, a riveting historical rollercoaster that illuminates the political machinations behind the 1961 assassination of Congo’s leader Patrice Lumumba. Richly illustrated by eyewitness accounts, official government memos, testimonies from mercenaries and CIA operatives, speeches from Lumumba himself, and a veritable canon of jazz icons, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat interrogates colonial history to tell an urgent and timely story of precedent that resonates more than ever in today’s geopolitical climate.

A bravura cinematic essay that intertwines jazz, history, and the taste of a spy thriller…what Grimonprez creates here is a mind-blowingly rich tapestry of research, music, and the jazziest history lesson imaginable.” – Tomris Laffly, Harper’s Bazaar

“A stunning screed against colonial racism and state-sanctioned violence that reaches far beyond the years it directly covers… As Soundtrack to a Coup d’État brutally suggests, history is not in the past, but very much alive in our present.” – Greg Nussen, Slant Magazine

“A remarkable film – exhaustive, informative and rigorously researched, but also crackling with energy, ideas and formal daring.” – Wendy Ide, Screen International

“A vibrant film essay that marries jazz and politics to unravel colonial machinations of power in the Congo circa 1960.” – David Opie, IndieWire