This megalith of a film, as intricately layered as the American jazz its beats are cut to, teases out the complex, sordid details of Congo's liberation from Belgian colonial rule in June 1960, through to the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba three months later.

As newly independent African countries took their seats at the UN, causing a political earthquake with their potential for majority voting, the CIA mounted their operation in the new Republic of Congo and the US sent Louis Armstrong over on a PR distraction trip.

Director Johan Grimonprez’s syncopated masterpiece connects post-war jazz, decolonisation and the Imperial quest for African resources, culminating in musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crashing the UN Security Council in protest at Lumumba’s death.

With its dextrous command of abundant sources – from rich archive materials and eyewitness accounts to testimony from mercenaries and CIA operatives – Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat never misses a beat in a disturbing story mired in colonial machinations.

Followed by an in-person Q&A with director Johan Grimonprez.

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