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.

“Riveting and propulsive.” (The Hollywood Reporter)

“Cutting between home movies, official texts, historical footage, and Patrice Lumumba’s speeches, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” uses an endless rhythm of rumba and jazz to unravel colonial machinations of power in the Congo circa 1960.” (indieWire)

“It might manifest as a straightforward historical documentary, but the fascinating, hypnotic Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat unfolds into something much deeper — and more sinister. “ (Time Out)

“This is a film which has a little of Oliver Stone in the way it inhales something eerie and sinister in the atmosphere, and it’s something to set alongside Leon Gast’s 1996 documentary ‘When We Were Kings’.” (Guardian)

“What [director] Grimonprez creates here is 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)

Saturday, February 1
Doors 2:30 pm | Movie 3:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.
Tickets HERE

SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT (Johan Grimonprez, 2024 / 150 mins / NR / English with English subtitles) Jazz and decolonization are entwined in this historical rollercoaster that rewrites the Cold War episode that led musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council in protest against the murder of Patrice Lumumba.

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