Canadian Premiere
On January 17, 1961, seven months after Congolese independence, Patrice Lumumba, the nation’s first democratically elected prime minister, is assassinated. How did this political murder come about? And what role did Black jazz legends such as Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie play within the larger context of the era, amid the decolonization movements then sweeping across Africa? These questions are at the heart of Soundtrack to a Coup d’État, a riveting, essayistic investigation of the complex and unlikely intersections of American jazz and Cold War geopolitics.
Directed by Belgian multimedia artist Johan Grimonprez (Double Take), the film deftly weaves together archival footage, political speeches, journalistic interviews, personal memoirs, and historical studies, demonstrating how the struggle for civil rights in the United States was deeply intertwined with decolonial movements in Africa and elsewhere. Recipient of the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation at Sundance, Soundtrack pulses with anti-colonialist fervor, putting a spotlight on a dark chapter of history that has lost none of its urgency or import today.
Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation, Sundance 2024
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.
Murtada Elfadl, Variety
Media Partner
Community Partner
Marie Daulne, In Koli Jean Bofane, Patrick Cruise O’Brien
Belgium/France/Netherlands
2024
In English, French, Russian and Dutch with English subtitles and open captions
At Vancouver Playhouse and VIFF Centre
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Daan Milius, Rémi Grellety
Screenwriter
Johan Grimonprez
Editor
Rik Chaubet
Johan Grimonprez
Johan Grimonprez’s work dances on the borders of practice and theory, art and cinema, and documentary and fiction, inviting viewers to rethink media and globalization. His projects, exhibited globally at institutions like MoMA and Tate Modern, explore contemporary issues through innovative narratives. Notable films include dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1997), Double Take (2009), and Shadow World (2016). His latest film, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (2024), premiered at Sundance where it won the Cinematic Innovation Award.
Filmography: dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1997); Double Take (2009); Shadow World (2016)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Matrix
Can a computer hacker save the world? Maybe if you hack deep enough... One of the most influential movies of the past quarter-century. The Matrix didn't just change the way films looked and moved, it altered the way we perceived the world(s).
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
Sasha Waters' documentary takes us through the life of America's best-selling late twentieth century poet, a private woman who shared her innermost thoughts and made them indispensable.
Late Fame
Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.
Palimpsest: The Story of a Name
Drawing on home movies and diaries from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s, Canadian filmmaker Mary Stephen (Eric Rohmer's editor for many years) investigates the origins of her surname. After all, she was born in Hong Kong to Chinese parents. Or were they... ?
The Sixth Sense
"I see dead people." Does 10-year-old Cole (Haley Joel Osment) have the sixth sense, as he claims — or is this sensitive, unusual child responding to stress, as his mother (Toni Collette) would like to believe? Psychologist Bruce Willis finds out.
Office Space
This razor sharp comedy from Mike Judge (King of the Hill) captures the indignities of life as a wage slave with rare acumen and caustic wit. Evidently the impending millennial bug weighed heavily on people's minds back in 1999.