Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat – TCC Diversity Film Festival

Name: Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat – TCC Diversity Film Festival
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2026-05-14
Duration: 2 h 30 min
Cast: Patrice Lumumba, Louis Armstrong, Nikita Khrushchev

Presented as part of the Tacoma Community College Diversity Film Festival! 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 the Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup. Director Johan Grimonprez explores a moment when jazz, colonialism, and espionage collided, constructing a riveting historical rollercoaster that illuminates the political machinations behind the 1961 assassination of Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba. The result is a revelatory documentary 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. Sundance award winner SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D'ETAT interrogates colonial history to tell an urgent and timely story that resonates more than ever in today’s geopolitical climate.DocumentaryPT2H30M2026-05-14

Patrice Lumumba

Louis Armstrong

Nikita Khrushchev

Johan Grimonprez

Daan Milius

Rémi Grellety

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat – TCC Diversity Film Festival"Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat – TCC Diversity Film Festival"

Showtimes

May 14, 7:00 pm