Andrée Blouin, centre, Patrice Lumumba’s speechwriter, in “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat.” The documentary is the fourth in the film series and will be shown March 5, 2026. (Image courtesy of UMGC | credit: Kino Lorber/Modern Films)
UMGC in Europe is hosting the Oscar-shortlisted documentary “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” the fourth showing in a film festival titled “Screened History: Global Pasts in Francophone Films,” at the KMC Reel-Time Theater this Thursday, March. 5, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. Americans may not think much about the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). However, Americans have had ties with the DRC long before its creation in 1960. American ambassador Henry Shelton Sandford and American explorer Henry Morton Stanley contributed to the creation of a Congo Free State in 1885. U.S. Army veteran and journalist George Washington Williams popularized the term “crimes against humanity” and he reported such abuses from the Congo. The Trinity Test of July 16, 1945 contained Congolese uranium. Two-thirds of the uranium used for the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was Congolese. Congolese plutonium was in the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. You are reading this article on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone that almost definitely contains minerals from the DRC. In “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” Belgian director Johan Grimonprez crafts a historical documentary-as-music video with ample textual citations on screen from primary and secondary sources. Grimonprez’s film intersects American jazz diplomacy–the soundtrack–with the Congo Crisis in the early-1960s. Jazz musicians were an American soft power during the Cold War. The U.S. deployed musicians like Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie to non-aligned African states as powerful cultural ambassadors. American coolness won hearts and minds across the continent. Simultaneously, behind the soundtrack, Americans, Belgians, and Soviets covertly strategized how to access minerals in Congolese soils. Grimonprez conducted research and interviews over four years and made interesting connections between historical actors. The start of the 1960s emerged in an improvisational fullness moving forward with unstoppable beats. Grimonprez’s research included Nikita Khrushchev’s familial archives. Khrushchev comes across as an almost comical, shoe-banging leader until audiences are reminded Khrushchev invaded Hungary in 1956. The director calls attention to Andrée Blouin. Most famous African revolutionaries were men, but Blouin, a woman, became active in the anti-imperialist struggle for a free Africa in the 1950s. An entire generation of historical actors walk across Grimonprez’s stage from Maya Angelou to Nina Simone and President Eisenhower. The power of jazz music carries the audience through events culminating in the rise of the Congolese dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Grimonprez wants viewers to connect continued and contemporary Congolese conflicts with these events in the 1960s. If you have a phone in your pocket, come learn about the country from where the cobalt inside its battery originated. All of us have unique experiences. The movie is shown to reflect on specific academic questions. This movie does deal with potentially distressing material, including violence. The movie is not to be construed as factual or definitive information on this subject matter. All films are offered at no cost; you must have base access. This is a private university event open to the KMC. All films have subtitles in English. A RSVP is requested for the film on the UMGC in Europe Presents webpage.
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