SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT Documentary

SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT

Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and writer Johan Grimonprez.

Jazz and colonial politics collide in a forgotten chapter of Cold War history in Johan Grimonprez’s electrifying essay film. The music of Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone and other jazz legends infuse the soundscape of decolonization movements rippling through the African continent in the 1960s, and in turn, the insidious plotting of Western powers. Featuring excerpts from “My Country, Africa” by Andrée Blouin, “Congo Inc.” by In Koli Jean Bofane, “To Katanga and Back” by Conor Cruise O’Brien and audio memoirs by Nikita Khrushchev, SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT interweaves montage, typography and music to meticulously retrace a detailed historical account that led to musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach’s 1961 protest of the United Nations Security Council over the murder of Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba. Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Grimonprez’s striking indictment of postcolonial ramifications is as pertinent as ever. –Anna Li

Johan Grimonprez’s feature films include DIAL H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1998), DOUBLE TAKE (2009), and SHADOW WORLD (2016). His curatorial projects have been exhibited at museums worldwide, including the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich and the MoMA.

MEMBERS & PASSHOLDERS

Screenings

October 25, 8:15 p.m.

Chinese 3

Details

Country: Belgium, France, Netherlands

Year: 2024

Director: Johan Grimonprez

Screenwriter: Johan Grimonprez

Producers: Daan Milius, Rémi Grellety

Director of Photography: Jonathan Wannyn

Editor: Rik Chaubet

Cast/Featuring: Louis Armstrong, Fidel Castro, Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Malcolm X, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Duke Ellington

Running Time (minutes): 150

Languages: English, French, Dutch

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