Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Documentary 150 min
FilmColumbia 2024

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Monday, October 21
Crandell Theatre
Play

On January 17, 1961, Patrice Lumumba, the first president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country only six months old, was assassinated. Johan Grimonprez, a noted Belgian media artist, presents an innovative explanation of this calamity through the rhythms of American jazz musicians sent by Washington to Kinshasa, ostensibly to demonstrate solidarity, but really to conceal the ambiguous role the U.S. played in the coup and protect its interests in Central Africa.

directed by
Johan Grimonprez
written by
Johan Grimonprez
with
Patrice Lumumba himself, Nikita Khrushchev, King Badouin of Belgium, Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillepsie, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong
language
French, English, Dutch (with English subtitles)
country
Belgium, France
distributor
Kino Lorber