WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY JOHAN GRIMONPREZ

From the Congo to Harlem and back again, Johan Grimonprez’s kinetic, urgent documentary delivers the politics of decolonization in jazz form, replete with with virtuosic archival riffs, historical text in the form of Blue Note album covers, and musical performances by jazz legends (Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone) who in the ‘60s doubled as cultural ambassadors to Africa. Their roles as unknowing decoys in the CIA’s plot to assassinate Congo’s prime minister Patrice Lumumba threads through this deeply researched, densely textured tapestry — which scrambles the simplistic good guys/bad guys narrative, foregrounds powerful women behind the revolution (Simone, Abbey Lincoln, and activist/chief advisor to Lumumba, Andrée Blouin), and sounds a call to clear-eyed interrogation of Western powers’ murderous collusions in the guise of liberal values.

Presented with support from The Richard Brick, Geri Ashur, and Sara Bershtel Fund for Social Justice Documentaries

2024 150 MIN. BELGIUM / FRANCE / NETHERLANDS KINO LORBER IN ENGLISH, FRENCH, DUTCH, AND RUSSIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Cost: $11.00 Member, $17.00 Regular

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