Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (Johan Grimonprez, 2024) | 2026 French Film Festival

Screening as part of the 2026 French Film Festival

Jan 29 - Feb 13, 2026

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

(Johan Grimonprez, 2024, 150 min, Belgium / France / Netherlands, French, Dutch, and Russian with English subtitles, DCP)

-- Q&A to follow with Distinguished Professor Felwine Sarr (Romance Studies) and Distinguished Professor Mark Anthony Neal (African & African American Studies)

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. 2025 Oscar Nominee for Best Documentary.

“My absolute favorite documentary this year… I think everyone should see this movie.” – Aisha Harris, NPR

“A case study of decolonization, neo-imperialism, cultural exploitation, and political murder…I don’t think I’ve seen a better movie-movie all year.” – J. Hoberman, Film Comment

“A bravura cinematic essay that intertwines jazz, history, and the taste of a spy thriller…what Grimonprez creates here is a mind-blowingly rich tapestry of research, music, and the jazziest history lesson imaginable.” – Tomris Laffly, Harper’s Bazaar

Screen/Society screenings are free and open to the public.

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