Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat12A

Directed by Johan Grimonprez | Belgium | 2024 | 2h 30m

In 1960, sixteen newly independent African nations joined the United Nations, triggering a political change that shifted the majority vote from colonial powers to the Global South. As Nikita Khrushchev famously pounds his shoe at the UN in protest against neo-colonial resource exploitation, the U.S. State Department sends jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the Congo in an effort to distract from a CIA-backed coup. This hypnotic film essay weaves together compelling connections between post-war jazz, U.S. imperialism, and the Pan-African decolonisation movement. Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars.

This screening is curated by Maona Art in partnership with the Black Association of Rhodes Scholars (BARS) and the African Society (AfriSoc, Oxford Student Society) as a fundraiser for Friends Of The Congo (FOTC). FOTC supports the liberation of the DRC from an individual to institutional level. They promote public education and awareness about the severity of the ongoing crisis in the DRC, in addition to investing in the efforts of the Basandja Coalition for the Rights of Indigenous People and Local Communities (frontline organisations reaching nearly 2 million people in the DRC). You can read more about their work here: https://friendsofthecongo.org/campaigns/

The ticket price for this screening includes a £3.00 charitable donation to Friends Of The Congo. Please consider adding a further donation to your purchase (on the MY ORDER page during the online booking process).

Reviews

‘It might manifest as a straightforward historical documentary, but the fascinating, hypnotic Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat unfolds into something much deeper — and more sinister.’
★★★★
Aaron Tyme, Time Out

‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat is a dense and meticulously constructed picture.’
★★★★
Philip Concannon, Little White Lies

Book tickets

Tuesday 18 March

8.00pmBook tickets

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Tomorrow (Tuesday 18th March)

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When two brothers discover their father’s old toy monkey in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths follows. Osgood Perkins (Longlegs) returns with another terrifying tale, this time adapting a chilling short story by Stephen King.

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20:00

Soundtrack to a Coup d'État 12A
2h 30m
A hypnotic, Oscar-nominated documentary revealing how the U.S. State Department sent jazz to the Congo in the early 1960s to divert attention from a CIA-backed coup. Charity fundraiser screening for Friends of Congo.

Book here


Plan your visit

Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road. We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We don’t show adverts, just a couple of trailers, so don't be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!