Events Calendar
Congo Week: Film Discussion
Thursday, October 16, 2025, 08:00pm - 10:00pm
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!
(In person only - see location below)
(In person only - see location below)
When: Thursday, October 16th 5-7 pm PST
Where: Fannie Lou Hamer Black Resource Center, Hearst Field Annex, Berkeley, California
Join us as we view and discuss the documentary "Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat." We will have popcorn and light refreshments (canned drinks, water) available.
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.
Location Berkeley, California