Soundtrack to a Coup d'État

A historical scene featuring a military officer in a white uniform standing in an open-top vehicle, holding a ceremonial staff, surrounded by a crowd, with flags and trees in the background.

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.

The result is a revelatory documentary 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. Sundance award-winner 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.

Part of our "Doc Spots" series. Courtesy of Kino Lorber. In English, French, Dutch, Russian with English subtitles.

"Critic’s Pick! Rhythmic and propulsive... uses every instrument cinema affords. The result, in a word, is marvelous." – Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times

“A case study of decolonization, neo-imperialism, cultural exploitation, and political murder…I don’t think I’ve seen a better movie-movie all year.” – J. Hoberman, Film Comment

“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