A rhythmic and dynamic documentary, using archive materials and riveting musical commentary.
In 1960, 16 newly independent African countries enter the United Nations: a political earthquake that shifts the majority vote from the colonial powers to the global south. Congo becomes the arena in which the battle over the UN is fought.
As Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe at the UN top in reaction to the neocolonial grab of the resources of the newly independent Congo, UN delegates from African Countries are blackmailed. In an incredulous twist, Patrice Lumumba’s assassination unites the Afro-Asian block, demanding the UN General Assembly to vote for immediate worldwide decolonisation.
‘A vibrant, jazz-led history lesson on colonial machinations in the Congo’
David Opie, IndieWire
‘[The] music presents a kind of commentary on Lumumba’s struggle and defeat but, in Grimonprez’s telling, has a tragic dimension of its own’
Sam Davies, Sight and Sound
Event information
Running Time: 2hrs 30mins
Certificate: 12A
Content Guidance: Racism
Part of Cinema Africa
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