SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT

In 1960, sixteen newly independent African countries enter the United Nations, a political earthquake that shifts the majority vote from the colonial powers and the U.S. to the global south. Congo becomes the arena in which the battle over the UN is fought. In an incredulous twist Patrice Lumumba’s assassination unites the Afro-Asian block, demanding the UN General Assembly to vote for immediate worldwide decolonization. The United States government dispatches the like of Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie or Nina Simone as Jazz Ambassadors around the world – as a diversion from CIA-backed coups.
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Directed by: Johan Grimonprez
Cinematography: Jonathan Wannyn
Editing: Rik Chaubet
Producers: Daan Milius i Rémi Grellety
Production: Onomatopee Films, Warboys Films, BALDR Film
Festivals and Awards: Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Best Belgian Documentary at Docville, Best Documentary at Sofia International Film Festival, Persistence of Vision at San Francisco International Film Festival

About the author:

Johan Grimonprez is a renowned filmmaker, multimedia artist and curator. He was educated in photography and mixed media at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent an later received an MFA in Video & Mixed Media from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Grimonprez achieved international acclaim with his film Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, that premiered in 1997 at Centre Pompidou and Documenta 10 in Kassel and was awarded Best Director at San Francisco International Film Festival.