# Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat is a 2024 documentary film directed by Johan Grimonprez about the Cold War episode that led American musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council in protest against the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. It features excerpts from My Country, Africa by Andrée Blouin; Congo Inc. by In Koli Jean Bofane; To Katanga and Back by Conor Cruise O'Brien; and audio memoirs by Nikita Khrushchev.
The film had its world premiere premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on 22 January. It won the André Cavens Award for Best Film from the Belgian Film Critics Association. At the 97th Academy Awards it was nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film.

## Plot

One February morning in 1961, singer Abbey Lincoln and drummer Max Roach protested at the UN Security Council after 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.
Six months earlier, sixteen newly independent African countries are admitted to the United Nations, shifting the majority vote away from the old colonial powers. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev speaks in opposition to the neo-colonial power grab unfolding in the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) (modern DR Congo). Denouncing America's color bar and UN complicity in the overthrow of Lumumba, he demands immediate decolonization worldwide.
To retain control over the riches of what used to be the Belgian Congo, King Baudouin of Belgium finds an ally in the Eisenhower administration, which fears losing access to one of the world's biggest known reserves of uranium, a metal vital for the creation of atomic bombs. Congo-Léopoldville 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 operatives, 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.

## Cast

* Louis Armstrong, jazz musician
* Dizzy Gillespie, jazz musician
* Abbey Lincoln, jazz musician
* Max Roach, jazz musician
* Nina Simone, jazz musician
* Miriam Makeba, jazz musician
* John Coltrane, jazz musician
* Duke Ellington, jazz musician
* Melba Liston, jazz musician
* Eric Dolphy, jazz musician
* Charles Mingus, jazz musician
* Ornette Coleman, jazz musician
* Le Grand Kallé, African Rumba musician
* Rock-a-Mambo, African Rumba Orchestra
* Dr. Nico, African Rumba musician
* Marie Daulne "Zap Mama", Belgian-Congolese musician
* Patrice Lumumba, Congolese Prime Minister
* Eddy Wally, Belgian musician
* Willis Connover, Voice of America radio broadcaster
* René Magritte, Belgian painter
* Andrée Blouin, Pan-Africanist
* Dag Hammarskjöld, UN Secretary-General
* Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet Chairman (1958–1964)
* In Koli Jean Bofane, novelist
* Malcolm X, human rights activist
* Conor Cruise O'Brien, Irish diplomat/writer
* Allen Dulles, Director of the CIA (1953 - 1961)
* John F. Dulles, US Secretary of State (1953 - 1959)

## Production

One of Johan Grimonprez inspirations for making the film was his fascination with Nikita Khrushchev's shoe-banging incident. The film, made entirely with archival footage, was edited using Adobe Premiere Pro and color corrected with DaVinci Resolve.

## Release and reception

The film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival 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."

### Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 53 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.80/10. The website's consensus reads: "Director Johan Grimonprez's sprawling documentary moves to a furious beat, laying out its thesis with an energy that's as enthralling as it is thought-provoking." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 91 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Shortly after the film's premiere at Sundance, it was championed by critic Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times, who wrote "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." She later described the film as "marvelous". Wilkinson ranked the film 4th in her list of the Top 10 Best Films of 2024, writing that it was "both a multimedia dissertation and a dizzying accomplishment."
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."
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."
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."
Lovia Gyarkye for The Hollywood Reporter: "Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat plays like a syncopated thriller."
The film has been picked as one of the "10 Best Movies From the 2024 Sundance Film Festival" by Rolling Stone. It has also been shown at MoMA's Director's Fortnight and at the 2024 edition of Cinéma du Réel.
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat was nominated for the Gotham Awards, the Critics Choice Doc Awards, Cinema Eye Honors, European Film Awards, IDA Doc Awards, and the Film Independent Spirit Awards in the Best Documentary category.
Screen Daily ranked Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat as the best film of 2024. It was also ranked 2nd in the film category of the Best of 2024 list from Artforum.
The film was included in a New York Times list of ideal nominees for the 97th Academy Awards.

## Accolades

| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| Sundance Film Festival | 28 January 2024 | World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Nominated |
| Sundance Film Festival | 28 January 2024 | Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| DocVille | 20 March 2024 | Best Belgian Documentary | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| Movies That Matter | 22 March 2024 | Special Mention Grand Jury Documentary Award | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| Sofia International Film Festival | 31 March 2024 | Grand Prix – International Documentary Competition | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| San Francisco International Film Festival | 28 April 2024 | Persistence of Vision | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| Bergen International Film Festival | 16 October 2024 | Documentary Extraordinaire (Best documentary) | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| El Gouna | 27 October 2024 | Silver Star for Documentary Film | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| Montclair Film Festival | 28 October 2024 | Bruce Sinofsky Award for the Documentary Feature Competition | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| Thessaloniki Film Festival | 10 November 2024 | Golden Alexander | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Nominated |
| Thessaloniki Film Festival | 10 November 2024 | Audience Award | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| Mirage Film Festival | 3 November | Best Editing | Rik Chaubet | Won |
| Gotham Awards | 2 December 2024 | Best Documentary Feature | Johan Grimonprez, Rémi Grellety, Daan Milius | Nominated |
| International Documentary Association Awards | 5 December 2024 | Best Feature Documentary | Johan Grimonprez, Rémi Grellety, Daan Milius | Nominated |
| International Documentary Association Awards | 5 December 2024 | Best Director | Johan Grimonprez | Nominated |
| International Documentary Association Awards | 5 December 2024 | Best Writing | Johan Grimonprez | Won |
| International Documentary Association Awards | 5 December 2024 | ABC News Videosource Award | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| International Documentary Association Awards | 5 December 2024 | Best Editing | Rik Chaubet | Won |
| European Film Awards | 7 December 2024 | European Film | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Shortlisted |
| European Film Awards | 7 December 2024 | European Documentary | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Nominated |
| Toronto Film Critics Association | 15 December 2024 | Best Documentary Film | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Runner-up |
| Belgian Film Critics Association | 19 December 2024 | Best Film | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| Florida Film Critics Circle | 20 December 2024 | Best Documentary Film | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Won |
| Cinema Eye Honors | 9 January 2025 | Outstanding Non-Fiction Feature | Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius, Rémi Grellety, Jonathan Wannyn, Rik Chaubet, Ranko Pauković and Alek Bunic Goosse | Nominated |
| Cinema Eye Honors | 9 January 2025 | Outstanding Editing | Rik Chaubet | Won |
| Cinema Eye Honors | 9 January 2025 | Outstanding Sound Design | Ranko Pauković and Alek Bunic Goosse | Won |
| Directors Guild of America Awards | 8 February 2025 | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries | Johan Grimonprez | Nominated |
| Independent Spirit Awards | 22 February 2025 | Best Documentary Feature | Johan Grimonprez, Rémi Grellety, Daan Milius | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | 2 March 2025 | Best Documentary Feature Film | Johan Grimonprez, Rémi Grellety, Daan Milius | Nominated |

## 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), UK/Ireland (Modern Films) and ex-Yugoslavia (Beldocs).
Kino Lorber will partner with specialist streamer Kanopy on the U.S. release of the film.