Best Documentary Award given to the director and producer.

Credits

Director: Johan Grimonprez

Producers: Rémi Grellety, Daan Milius

Synopsis

UN, 1960: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe, and the U.S. State Department reacts, 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 assassination of Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba. Featuring eyewitness accounts, government memos, and jazz icons, this Sundance winner interrogates colonial history to tell an urgent story that resonates in today’s geopolitical climate.