'Soundtrack to a coup d'état' nominated for best documentary Oscar

Soundtrack to a coup d'état has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary Feature category. The documentary by Belgian director Johan Grimonprez deals with the aftermath of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nomination on Thursday. Soundtrack to a Coup d'État deals with the events following the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The documentary tells the story from the perspective of Andrée Blouin, a forgotten pioneer of women's emancipation and independence in Africa. Blouin was a collaborator of Lumumba during his tenure as prime minister.

The documentary premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation. The jury described the film as "a bold and ambitious way to grapple with a complex story". The feature also received high praise from film critics at The New York Times, Variety and IndieWire.

Personal and political histories

Johan Grimonprez is a Belgian artist, filmmaker and curator known for his previous films Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1997), Double Take (2009) and Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade (2016). His work is often marked by a critique of media manipulation in the construction of personal and political histories.

The 97th edition of the Oscars will take place on 2 March. Other nominees in the Best Documentary Feature category include Black Box Diaries, directed by Shiori Itô, and No Other Land, a Palestinian-Norwegian documentary by Basel Adra.

^{Patrice Lumumba in the documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat © PHOTO KINO LOBER}