PRESENTS
SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT
A FILM by JOHAN GRIMONPREZ
For Immediate Release – Films We Like is pleased to announce the Canadian acquisition of documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat by Johan Grimonprez.
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.
Running time: 150 minutes
Country of origin: Belgium, France, Netherlands
Language: English, French, Dutch, Russian
Media Contact: mercy@filmswelike.com
Press Materials: Further Information
About Films We Like
Founded by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ron Mann (Grass, Comic Book Confidential, Carmine Street Guitars) Films We Like is a boutique distributor of documentary, independent, and international films in Canada. Recent releases include Sugarcane, Flow, and All We Imagine as Light.