BIG EARS FESTIVAL

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (2024)

Directed by Johan Grimonprez

Sun   Mar   30   2025 - 12:00 PM Regal Riviera Cinema 2

“Johan Grimonprez’s magisterial documentary ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’État’ isn’t just about jazz; it is jazz. Just as it isn’t only about politics, it’s a political act in itself… It’s exhilarating to watch… It is as intellectually satisfying and physically irresistible as a great jazz performance.” –

From the Congo to Harlem and back again, Johan Grimonprez’s kinetic, urgent documentary delivers the politics of decolonization in jazz form, replete with virtuosic archival riffs, historical text in the form of Blue Note album covers, and musical performances by jazz legends (Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone) who in the ‘60s doubled as cultural ambassadors to Africa. Their roles as unknowing decoys in the CIA’s plot to assassinate Congo’s prime minister Patrice Lumumba threads through this deeply researched, densely textured tapestry — which scrambles the simplistic good guys/bad guys narrative, foregrounds powerful women behind the revolution (Simone, Abbey Lincoln, and activist/chief advisor to Lumumba, Andrée Blouin), and sounds a call to clear-eyed interrogation of Western powers’ murderous collusions in the guise of liberal values.

Runtime: 2 Hours 30 Minutes

BIG EARS
03.27_03.30.25
Knoxville, TN · USA

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