Kino Lorber has acquired US rights in the Cannes market to Sundance documentary Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat, while Mediawan Rights has closed key territory sales.
Johan Grimonprez’s film unravels colonial power dynamics in Africa and re-examines the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, set against a soundtrack of American jazz greats.
The film includes eyewitness accounts, official government memos, testimonies from mercenaries and CIA operatives, and speeches from Lumumba himself.
Kino Lorber plans a theatrical release later this year followed by a home video, educational, and digital release on all major platforms. The distributor is partnering with public library and university streaming platform Kanopy.
Mediawan Rights has closed deals in multiple territories including Australia (Madman), Benelux (Imagine), Brazil (Bela Artes Grupo), Greece (Cinobo), Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Spain (Filmin), Thailand (Documentary Club), and former Yugoslavia (Beldocs).
Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat won the Sundance World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation and went on to screen at CPH:DOX and Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, where it won the audience award.
Grimonprez wrote the screenplay and Rémi Grellety (I Am Not Your Negro) and Daan Milius served as producers.
Kino Lorber SVP Wendy Lidell negotiated the deal with Matt Burke of Submarine Entertainment. The deal marks Kino Lorber’s second collaboration with Grimonprez following the 2010 release of Double Take, which interweaves Hitchcock, the Cold War, and the rise of television.
Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat is an Onomatopee Films and Warboys Films production, in co-production with Zap-O-Matik, Baldr Film, ZKM | Center For Art And Media Karlsruhe, RTBF Télévision Belge & VRT.
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