Soundtrack to a Coup d’État

  • portrait of a black man

“Thrilling, galvanizing… crackling with energy, ideas and formal daring… Political history has never felt so energising and dynamically alive as it does here.” – Wendy Ide, Screen International

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.

Runtime
2h 30m
Year
2024
Director
Johan Grimonprez
Format
DCP
Country
Belgium, France, The Netherlands
Language
English, French, Dutch, Russian with English Subtitles
First Showing
December 5, 2024
Categories
  • Assisted Listening

Showtimes

Saturday, December 7, 2024 8:10 PM
Location Big Roxie
Tuesday, December 10, 2024 6:00 PM
Location Big Roxie
Wednesday, December 11, 2024 8:30 PM
Location Little Roxie
Saturday, December 14, 2024 5:30 PM
Location Little Roxie
Monday, December 16, 2024 8:30 PM
Location Little Roxie
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 6:00 PM
Location Big Roxie

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