Oscar® nominated director Johan Grimonprez visits Harstad with his latest film. Grimonprez is in conversation with art professor Knut Åsdam before the film. The day after, Sunday 23 November, you can see a retrospective of films by Grimponprez, and hear him in a longer conversation.

Jazz and decolonization are entwined in this Oscar® nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film historical rollercoaster that rewrites the Cold War episode that led musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council in protest against the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba.

It is 1961, six months after the admission of sixteen newly independent African countries to the UN, a political earthquake that shifts the majority vote from the colonial powers to the Global South. As Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe in indignation at the UN’s complicity in the overthrow of Lumumba, the US State Department swings into action by sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup.

Featuring excerpts from “My Country, Africa” by Andrée Blouin (narrated by Marie Daulne aka Zap Mama), “Congo Inc.” by In Koli Jean Bofane, “To Katanga and Back” by Conor Cruise O’Brien (narrated by Patrick Cruise O’Brien), and audio memoirs by Nikita Khrushche

Director:Johan Grimonprez

Language: English, French, Russian

Subtitles: English

Year: 2025

Starring: Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Fidel Castro, Nina Simone, Malcom X

Genre: Music film / Documentary

Film length: 2 t. 30 min.

Nationality: Belgia / Nederland / Frankrike

The event has 18 years old age limit as there is a bar in the cinema.