Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

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Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
Directed by Johan Grimonprez
Written by Johan Grimonprez
Produced by Daan Milius
Rémi Grellety
Narrated by In Koli Jean Bofane
Zap Mama
Patrick Cruise O’Brien
Edited by Rik Chaubet
Release date
  • 22 January 2024 (2024-01-22)(Sundance)
Running time
150 minutes

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat is a 2024 documentary film directed by Johan Grimonprez about the Cold War episode that led musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council in protest against the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. [1]

Contents

Featuring excerpts from “My Country, Africa” by Andrée Blouin (narrated by Marie Daulne aka Zap Mama), “Congo Inc.” by In Koli Jean Bofane, “To Katanga and Back,” by Conor Cruise O’Brien (narrated by Patrick Cruise O’Brien), and audio memoirs by Nikita Khrushchev.

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat is produced by Onomatopee Films and Warboys Films, in co-production with Zap-O-Matik, Baldr Film, ZKM Center For Art And Media Karlsruhe, RTBF and VRT.

Plot

One February morning in 1961, singer Abbey Lincoln and drummer Max Roach crash the UN Security Council to protest the murder of prime minister Patrice Lumumba of the newly independent Congo. Sixty yelling protesters throw punches, slam their stilettos and provoke a skirmish with unprepared guards as diplomats look on in shock. Decolonization spins the world upside down, infusing it with a sense of hope.

Six months earlier, sixteen newly independent African countries are admitted to the United Nations, triggering a political earthquake that shifts the majority vote away from the old colonial powers. The Cold War peaks as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe on his desk at the UN General Assembly, in reaction to the neo-colonial power grab unfolding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Denouncing America’s color bar and the UN complicity in the overthrow of Lumumba, he demands immediate decolonization worldwide.

To retain control over the riches of what used to be Belgian Congo, King Baudouin of Belgium finds an ally in the Eisenhower administration, which fears losing access to one of the world’s biggest supplies of Uranium, a mineral vital for the creation of atomic bombs. Congo takes center stage to both the Cold War and the scheme for control of the UN. The US State Department swings into action: Jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong is dispatched to win the hearts and minds of Africa. Unwittingly, Armstrong becomes a smokescreen to divert attention from Africa’s first post-colonial coup, leading to the assassination of Congo’s first democratically elected leader. Malcolm X stands up in open support of Lumumba and his efforts to create a United States of Africa while also reframing the freedom struggle of African Americans as one not for civil rights but for human rights, aiming to bring his case before the UN.

As Black jazz ambassadors are performing unaware amidst covert CIA operativess, the likes of Armstrong, Nina Simone, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Melba Liston face a painful dilemma: how to represent a country where segregation is still the law of the land.

Jazz and decolonization are entwined in this forgotten episode of the Cold War, where the greatest musicians stepped onto the political stage, and downtrodden politicians lent their voices as inadvertent lead singers. This story of the undermining of African self-determination is told from the perspective of Central African Republic women’s rights activist and politician Andrée Blouin, Irish diplomat and enfant terrible Conor Cruise O’Brien, Belgian-Congolese writer In Koli Jean Bofane, and Nikita Khrushchev himself. [2]

Cast

Release and reception

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival [3] as part of the World Documentary Competition where it received the Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation. The jury described the film as "a bold and ambitious way to grapple with a complex story. It bursts into our consciousness using multiple storytelling forms, taking a concealed history and making us see it differently." [4] Film critic Alissa Wilkinson published on The New York Times : “I can’t stop thinking about the remarkable ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,’ a sprawling film that’s a well-researched essay about the 1960 regime change in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the part the United States, particularly the C.I.A., played.” [5]

The critic Murtada Elfadl published on Variety : "an invigorating piece of documentary filmmaking [...] It’s dense yet nuanced, managing to capture so many disparate threads that combined to result in Lumumba’s murder." [6]

Marye E. Gates wrote on RogerEbert.com : "A searing video-essay… Watching the doc evokes the same intellectual and visceral feeling one gets from reading a dense work of nonfiction…For many it will be an eye-opener." [7]

David Opie for IndieWire: "A vibrant film essay that marries jazz and politics… Grimonprez’s doc has an impressionistic flair that asks audiences to actively participate in piecing everything together... It’s a stirring rally that’s uniquely cinematic in the way so many elements come together so precisely and yet still feels so organic as well.” [8]

Lovie Gyarkye for The Hollywood Reporter : "Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat plays like a syncopated thriller." [9]

The film has been picked as one of the "10 Best Movies From the 2024 Sundance Film Festival" [10] by Rolling Stone . It has also been shown at MoMa's Director's Fortnight [11] and at the 2024 edition of Cinéma du Réel. [12]

Awards

Distribution

Kino Lorber picked up Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat from Submarine Entertainment at the Cannes film market. Lorber senior vice President Wendy Lidell negotiated the deal with Matt Burke of Submarine. Mediawan Rights is handling international sales for the film and has already inked multiple territories including Australia (Madman), Benelux (Imagine), Brazil (Bela Artes Grupo), Greece (Cinobo), Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Spain (Filmin), Thailand (Documentary Club) and ex-Yugoslavia (Beldocs).

Kino Lorber will partner with specialist streamer Kanopy on the U.S. release of the film. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrice Lumumba</span> Congolese politician and independence leader (1925–1961)

Patrice Émery Lumumba, born Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa, was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from June until September 1960, following the May 1960 election. He was the leader of the Congolese National Movement (MNC) from 1958 until his execution in January 1961. Ideologically an African nationalist and pan-Africanist, he played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moïse Tshombe</span> Congolese politician and secessionist leader (1919–1969)

Moïse Kapenda Tshombe was a Congolese businessman and politician. He served as the president of the secessionist State of Katanga from 1960 to 1963 and as prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1964 to 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papa Wemba</span> Congolese musician

Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba, known professionally as Papa Wemba, was a Congolese singer and musician who played Congolese rumba, soukous, and ndombolo. Dubbed the "King of Rumba Rock", he was one of the most popular musicians of his time in Africa and played an important role in world music. He was also a fashion icon who popularized the Sape look and style through his musical group Viva la Musica, with whom he performed on stages throughout the world.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)</span> 1960–1965 state in Central Africa

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Cinema of the Democratic Republic of the Congo originated with educational and propaganda films during the colonial era of the Belgian Congo. Development of a local film industry after the Democratic Republic of the Congo gained its independence from Belgium in 1960, and was handicapped by constant civil war.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Table Ronde</span> 1960 song by Le Grand Kallé et lAfrican Jazz

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congolese Independence Speech</span> 1960 speech by Patrice Lumumba

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan Grimonprez</span>

Johan Grimonprez is a Belgian multimedia artist, filmmaker, and curator. He is most known for his films Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1997) which the Guardian included in its article From Warhol to Steve McQueen: a history of video art in 30 works, Double Take (2009) and Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade (2016), based on the book by Andrew Feinstein. Grimonprez wrote and directed the documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat about the promise of decolonisation, the hope of the non-aligned movement and the dream of self-determination.

The following lists events that happened during 1960 in the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 Force Publique mutinies</span>

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Pauline Opango Lumumba, also known as Pauline Opangu, was a Congolese activist, and the wife of Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was born in Wembonyama, Sankuru, Belgian Congo.

From Patrice to Lumumba is a 2019 independent documentary story of Patrice Lumumba, written by Patrick Kabeya. This film chronicles the story of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo and one of the faces associated with the country's liberation after Belgian colonization.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 Sundance Film Festival</span> Edition of film festival

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References

  1. ↑ "A Circle of Love: Remembering Abbey Lincoln in "Nothing But a Man" (1964)". Los Angeles Review of Books. February 27, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Johan Grimonprez". johangrimonprez.be.
  3. ↑ ""Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat": Political Machinations in the Congo | Sundance Film Festival". January 23, 2024.
  4. 1 2 "2024 Sundance Film Festival Announces Award Winners - sundance.org". January 26, 2024.
  5. ↑ Wilkinson, Alissa (28 January 2024). "At Sundance, A.I., Psychics and Other Ways of Connecting with the Dead". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ Elfadl, Murtada (March 11, 2024). "'Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat' Review: Innovative Doc Draws a Connection Between Jazz Music and the Assassination of Patrice Lumumba".
  7. ↑ Gates, Marya E. "Sundance 2024: Black Box Diaries, Never Look Away, Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Festivals & Awards | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com/.
  8. ↑ https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/soundtrack-to-a-coup-detat-review-1234946259/
  9. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/soundtrack-to-a-coup-detat-review-1235813495/
  10. ↑ Fear, David (January 27, 2024). "10 Best Movies From the 2024 Sundance Film Festival". Rolling Stone .
  11. ↑ "Soundtrack to a Coup D'Etat. 2024. Directed by Johan Grimonprez | MoMA".
  12. ↑ "Soundtrack to a coup d'état • Cinéma du Réel". Cinéma du Réel.
  13. ↑ "26th TiDF: The Awards". Thessaloniki Film Festival. March 17, 2024.
  14. ↑ "THE AWARDS * 28th SOFIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL". siff.bg. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  15. ↑ https://sffilm.org/event/persistence-of-vision-award-johan-grimonprez-soundtrack-for-a-coup-detat/
  16. ↑ https://moviesthatmatter.nl/en/festival/award-winners-movies-that-matter-festival-2024/
  17. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/kino-lorber-us-rights-documentary-soundtrack-to-a-coup-d-etat-1235905020/
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