Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

Sep 11, 2024

2h 30m

★ 7.6

Overview

Jazz and decolonization are intertwined in a powerful narrative that recounts one of the tensest episodes of the Cold War. In 1960, the UN became the stage for a political earthquake as the struggle for independence in the Congo put the world on high alert. The newly independent nation faced its first coup d'état, orchestrated by Western forces and Belgium, which were reluctant to relinquish control over their resource-rich former colony. The US tried to divert attention by sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the African continent. In 1961, Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was brutally assassinated, silencing a key voice in the fight against colonialism; his death was facilitated by Belgian and CIA operatives. Musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach took action, denouncing imperialism and structural racism. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev intensified his criticism of the US, highlighting the racial barriers that characterized American society.

Genres

Documentary

History

Music

Production Companies

Onomatopee Films

Warboys Films

Zap-O-Matik

ZKM Karlsruhe

BALDR Film

RTBF

VRT

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat Trailers

Cast

Self (archive footage)

Patrice Lumumba

Self (archive footage)

Louis Armstrong

Self (archive footage)

Nikita Khrushchev

Self (archive footage)

Dizzy Gillespie

Self (archive footage)

Andrée Blouin

Self (archive footage)

Abbey Lincoln

Self (archive footage)

Max Roach

Self (archive footage)

Malcolm X

Self (archive footage)

Nina Simone

Self (archive footage)

John Coltrane

Self (archive footage)

Duke Ellington

Self (archive footage)

Miriam Makeba

Accio and Manrico are siblings from a working-class family in 1960s Italy: older Manrico is handsome, charismatic, and loved by all, while younger Accio is sulky, hot-headed, and treats life as a battleground — much to his parents' chagrin. After the former is drawn into left-wing politics, Accio joins the fascists out of spite, but his flimsy beliefs are put to test when he falls for Manrico's like-minded girlfriend.

7.8

Zombies in the Sugar Cane Field: The Documentary

Nov 8, 2019

Tucumán, Argentina, 1965. Three years before George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead was released, director Ofelio Linares Montt shot Zombies in the Sugar Cane Field, which turned out to be both a horror film and a political statement. It was a success in the US, but could not be shown in Argentina due to Juan Carlos Onganía's dictatorship, and was eventually lost. Writer and researcher Luciano Saracino embarks on the search for the origins of this cursed work.

7.4

The Right Stuff

Oct 20, 1983

At the dawn of the Space Race, seven test pilots set out to become the first American astronauts to enter space. However, the road to making history brings momentous challenges.

6.9

That Thing You Do!

Oct 4, 1996

A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager. But behind the scenes, the group’s sudden fame tests their strength, their maturity and responsibility, and their ability to resist the temptations that money and notoriety always make possible.

7.4

Palm Trees in the Snow

Dec 25, 2015

Spain, 2003. An accidental discovery leads Clarence to travel from the snowy mountains of Huesca to Equatorial Guinea, to visit the land where her father Jacobo and her uncle Kilian spent most of their youth, the island of Fernando Poo.

7.7

The World's Fastest Indian

Oct 12, 2005

The life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle—a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.

7.4

The Magdalene Sisters

Aug 30, 2002

Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.

6.4

Sœur Sourire: Who Killed the Voice of God?

Jun 11, 2021

1962. A crystalline voice becomes a planetary tube. A Belgian nun jostles Elvis and the Beatles on the world charts. Her name: Sister Smile. A popstar with the trajectory of a comet who understands her success no more than the double meaning of her words… The harder the fall will be. Even God does not protect sharks' appetites or pretenses of success! Who killed the little voice of God? Here is the tragic story of an innocent voice, of an extraordinary fate, almost of a curse ...

6.5

Charlie Wilson's War

Dec 19, 2007

A Texas congressman sets a series of events in motion when he conspires with a CIA operative to aid Afghan mujahideen rebels fighting the Soviets.

0.0

8A

Jan 1, 1993

The Kafkaesque world of Cuba under Castro's rule is brought to light in this reconstruction of the 1989 trial and execution of General Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez, the highest-ranking general and hero of the revolution, and commander of the Angolan and Ethiopian campaigns.

No Image Available

0.0

South Africa: The White Laager

May 27, 1977

Explores the history of the Afrikaners and Afrikaner nationalism, and the development of apartheid and its relevance to South Africa's political situation today.

No Image Available

7.2

Tin Tan

Nov 12, 2010

Germán Cipriano Gómez Valdés Castillo, a young radio announcer from Cuidad Juárez, succeeds in drawing attention to the pachuco movement through his character Tin Tan, laying the groundwork for a new form of binational and mass linguistic expression: Spanglish. He soon became a leading figure in theater and film on the American Continent. Singled out by critics as a destroyer of the language, he quickly won the approval of the public. His ability to improvise revolutionized the film industry. His talent as an actor, singer, dancer and comedian contributed to the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. From El Hijo Desobediente to Capitán Mantarraya, from Cuidad Juárez to Havana, from mambo to rock, the legacy of Tin Tan makes him one of the great icons of Mexico today. This film tells his story as it has never been told before.

7.3

Hair

Mar 15, 1979

Upon receiving his draft notice and leaving his family ranch in Oklahoma, Claude heads to New York and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to boot camp.

7.1

We Were Soldiers

Mar 1, 2002

The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War and the soldiers on both sides that fought it.

7.5

My Music: A Classic Christmas

Nov 16, 2019

Gavin MacLeod and Marion Ross host a Christmas celebration that features classic performances of popular holiday standards and traditional carols performed, throughout decades past, by an array of artists, including Andy Williams, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Brenda Lee, Eddy Arnold, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Mitch Miller and the Gang, Gene Autry, Jimmy Boyd, the Supremes, Rosemary Clooney, the Lennon Sisters, Burl Ives, Mahalia Jackson, Mitzi Gaynor, Julie Andrews, the Beach Boys, the Carpenters, Jose Feliciano, the Drifters, Ronnie Spector, the Harry Simeone Chorale, and David Bowie.

6.1

The Lost City

Sep 3, 2005

In Havana, Cuba in the late 1950's, a wealthy family, one of whose sons is a prominent nightclub owner, is caught in the violent transition from the oppressive regime of Batista to the Marxist government of Fidel Castro. Castro's regime ultimately leads the nightclub owner to flee to New York.

7.0

Quadrophenia

Sep 14, 1979

Based on the 1973 rock opera album of the same name by The Who, this is the story of 60s teenager Jimmy. At work he slaves in a dead-end job. While after, he shops for tailored suits and rides his scooter as part of the London Mod scene.

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat Trailers