Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat(bcDocs)
In 1960, 16 newly independent African countries enter the United Nations, shifting the majority vote from colonial powers and the U.S. to the global south. Congo becomes the arena for this battle. As Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe at the UN over Congo’s neo-colonial resource grab, African delegates are blackmailed. In an incredulous twist, DR Congo’s first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, is assassinated, uniting the Afro-Asian block in demanding immediate worldwide decolonization. Amid this, the U.S. dispatches the like of Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Nina Simone as Jazz Ambassadors around the world - as a diversion from CIA-backed coups.
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award, Sundance Film Festival
Nominated for Best Documentary Feature, Academy Awards
Director
Johan Grimonprez
Cast
Release Date
10-08-2025
Language
Dutch, English, Russian, French, Arabic
Run Time
150 minutes
