SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT
IN CINEMAS NOVEMBER 15
DOCUMENTARY | ENGLISH, FRENCH| 150 MIN
In 1960, sixteen newly independent African countries enter the United Nations, a political earthquake that shifts the majority vote from the colonial powers to the global south. Congo becomes the arena in which the battle over the UN is fought. As Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe at the UN-top in reaction to the neo-colonial grab of the resources of newly independent Congo, UN delegates from African Countries are blackmailed. In an incredulous twist Patrice Lumumba’s assassination unites the Afro-Asian block, demanding the UN General Assembly to vote for immediate worldwide decolonization.
DIRECTOR Johan Grimonprez
CAST Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillepsie
UK TRAILER COMING SOON
PREVIEW SCREENINGS + EVENTS
IFI Documentary Film Festival | September 29
Book tickets
London Film Festival | October 15 + 17
Book tickets - SOLD OUT
“A remarkable film – exhaustive, informative and rigorously researched,
but also crackling with energy, ideas and formal daring”
— Screen International
“Watching the doc evokes the same intellectual and visceral feeling one gets from reading a dense work of nonfiction, complete with a thick annotated bibliography.”
— RogerEbert.com
“A Vibrant, Jazz-Led History Lesson on Colonial
Machinations in the Congo”
— IndieWire
“a mind-blowingly rich tapestry of research, music, and the jazziest history lesson imaginable, with freewheeling beats and riffs echoing into today with urgent purpose.”
— Harper’s Bazaar
FESTIVALS + AWARDS
Sundance Film Festival
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation
European Film Awards
Documentary Film Selection 2024
CPH: DOX
Official Selection
BFI London Film Festival
Official Selection
IFI Documentary Film Festival
Official Selection