Hastings Film Night
A documentary about jazz and politics in the 1960s comes to the Electric Palace, Hastings. The film explores the role of American musicians in the Cold War and the fate of the newly independent Congo.
Dir: Johan Grimonprez
Cast: Patrice Lumumba, Louis Armstrong, Nikita Khrushchev, Dizzy Gillespie, Andrée Blouin, Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach, Malcolm X
150 mins · 2024 · Belgium, France, Netherlands · Cert 12 · Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Lingala, Russian, Spanish
IMDb 7.8/10 · Rotten Tomatoes 97% · Metacritic 91/100 · TMDB 7.8/10 · Trakt 78%
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 19 wins & 35 nominations total
The Academy Award-nominated documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat is a complex and thought-provoking film that digs into the jazz ambassadors the United States sent across the world in the 1960s. Directed by Johan Grimonprez, the film features a cast of characters including Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, and Patrice Lumumba, and explores the tense episode of the Cold War that led to the murder of Lumumba. The documentary is a thrilling and music-soaked detective story about art, propaganda, and empire.
The film has received widespread critical acclaim, with scores of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, 91/100 on Metacritic, and 7.8/10 on IMDb and TMDB. It has also won numerous awards, including the André Cavens Award for Best Film and the Rose d'Or award for Best Art Film. Viewers have praised the film's unique blend of music and politics, with some describing it as a "jazzy" and "dynamic" portrait of a historic moment.
The screening will take place on Friday, 18 December 2026 at 19:30 at the Electric Palace, Hastings, as part of the Hidden Beach Winter of Culture film season. Tickets and details are available with the button beside this article.
Stills
What viewers say
morbo · 9/10
A must-see. So much information, so much original material, storytelling is jazzy af. Watching is a constant roller coaster.
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miguelreina · 8/10
[Filmin] A fascinating cinematic exercise, a jam session that reviews the independence of the Congo and the dream of a United States of Africa, frustrated by the intervention of Western countries, the UN and the CIA, which in some way define the current state of the African continent. The inclusion of jazz musicians who served as ambassadors and the mix of their protest songs with the vast archive material offers a different way of approaching…
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AlfieSGD · 5/10
Documentaries that deal with historical developments that I previously knew very little about are generally to be welcomed. In the case of “Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat,” the main focus is on assassination plans and the subsequent murder of the first prime minister of the independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba, in the 1960s. The film is presented in a montage of original footage, text panels, and jazz music. And to be honest, the film does feel a bit…
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heyflp · 9/10
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’État” feels more like a jam session of ideas and emotions than a straightforward history lesson. Directed by Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez, the documentary blends music, politics, and collective memory to transport us to post-independence Congo and dive into the tragedy of Patrice Lumumba’s fall. It’s a powerful mosaic where every element—from archival footage to the jazz-heavy soundtrack—contributes to a dynamic…
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Saint Pauly · 7/10
Like freestyle surgery: they cut and connect a lot of disparate things, so it comes out looking like jazz feels. This documentary covers the late 50s / early 60s and combines jazz diplomacy, US / USSR cold war posturing, the United States of Africa, the CIA, Congolese independence, Prime Minister Practice Lumumba, US civil rights, and jazz. While the film is edited masterfully, editing such a variety of subjects was sightly less successful,…
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sixhoursago
In anything, if you want to go From just a beginner to a pro You need a montage (Montage!) Ooh, it takes a montage (Montage!)
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CinemaSerf · 7/10
This documentary is a serious testament to the archivist's art as it pieces together an impressive array of imagery of the great and the good of American Jazz and combines that with some intimate actuality of the turbulence ongoing in the Congo as it strived for independence. Why might anyone care about the future of an impoverished African nation that had all but bankrupted it's "owner" - King Leopold II of Belgium? Well that's because it holds…
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Brent Marchant · 5/10
Perhaps the most important objective of a documentary is to shed light on a subject and make it comprehensible and insightful for viewers, especially when it involves little-known material. However, when it comes to writer-director Johan Grimonprez’s latest offering, that goal is sorely compromised in multiple respects. The film examines (or, more precisely, attempts to examine) the complex history of the Congo’s struggle for independence from…
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