Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
Actress Embeth Davidtz (Schindler's List) makes her feature directorial debut, adapting Alexandra Fuller’s bestselling memoir about a precocious eight-year-old farmgirl who witnesses Rhodesia’s tumultuous political shift in the early 1980s.
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Saturday, May 17, 2025
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- Matinee
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
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- Matinee
Set during Zimbabwe’s war for independence, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight follows a white settler family unraveling in the final years of Rhodesia. Ten-year-old Bobo (a magnetic Lexi Venter) watches as her world—equal parts adventure and instability—begins to collapse under the weight of economic hardship, political isolation, and a family history no one fully explains. Her mother drinks and rages, her father struggles to keep a failing farm afloat, and violence flickers just beyond the frame.
Adapting Alexandra Fuller’s acclaimed memoir, actor-turned-director Embeth Davidtz brings lyrical restraint to a fraught period of Southern African history. The story unfolds largely through the eyes of its young protagonist, with landscapes that stretch wide and silences that speak volumes. Venter’s performance anchors the story, capturing the dissonance of childhood innocence amid slow-burning political upheaval.
Shot on location in South Africa, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight blends intimate domestic drama with the looming shadow of historical change. Though its perspective is rooted in one family’s experience, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight invites reflection on the aftershocks of colonial rule—and the emotional cost of growing up in its final hours.
—Nancy Pappas
- Director: Embeth Davidtz
- Principal Cast: Lexi Venter, Embeth Davidtz, Zikhona Bali, Fumani Shilubana, Rob Van Vuuren, Anina Reed
- Country: South Africa
- Year: 2024
- Running Time: 98 min.
- Producer: Helena Spring, Paul Buys, Embeth Davidtz
- Screenplay: Embeth Davidtz
- Cinematographers: Willie Nel
- Editors: Nicholas Costaras
- Music: Chris Letcher
- Website: Official Film Website
- Filmography: Debut Feature Film
- Language: English, Shona
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- Format: DCP
- US Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
- International Sales: Creative Artists Agency (CAA)