Latest news with #Don'tLet'sGototheDogsTonight
Time Out
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight makes its South African debut
Joburg film lovers, clear your calendars for 25 July. Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, the moving new adaptation of Alexandra Fuller's best-selling memoir, is finally getting its South African premiere. Directed by South African-born actor and filmmaker Embeth Davidtz, this is a story rooted deeply in African soil. Shot in South Africa and adapted for the screen by Davidtz herself, the film offers a rare and emotionally layered portrayal of Zimbabwe's transition from colonial Rhodesia to independence. At the heart of it all is eight-year-old Bobo, played by newcomer Lexi Venter, a young white girl navigating a childhood shaped by grief, shifting family dynamics, and a land at war. The story unfolds through Bobo's eyes, bringing tenderness, innocence, and emotional truth to a time often only seen through historical or political lenses. 'Even in the middle of pain and inherited racism, love and transformation are actually possible,' says Davidtz, who also stars in the film. 'This story helped me process my own childhood in apartheid-era South Africa.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sony Pictures Classics (@sonyclassics) With a stellar local cast that includes Zikhona Bali, Fumani N Shilubana, and Rob Van Vuuren, the film is both intimate and expansive, telling a personal tale against a backdrop of war and cultural upheaval. Behind the scenes, a powerhouse production team backs the film, including executive producers Anele Mdoda, Frankie Du Toit, and Trevor Noah, and acclaimed producers Helena Spring and Paul Buys. Following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film now comes home, offering South African audiences a chance to witness this poignant coming-of-age story where memory, identity, and healing are front and centre.
TimesLIVE
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
What's new at Nu Metro cinemas, a feast of films at Durban festival, and a hook-handed stalker is back
Spotlight is our bite-sized entertainment snapshot featuring new releases in South Africa, exclusive film trailers and more. New episodes come out every Thursday on Sunday Times Lifestyle, Sowetan Entertainment and YouTube, plus you can follow Spotlight on Facebook. This week Spotlight shines a light on industry news, including the 46th Durban International Film Festival, splendid developments and offers for all film lovers at Nu Metro cinemas. It also takes a peek at the remake of a slasher favourite. Cinema lovers can look forward to extraordinary developments at Nu Metro cinemas, including 270° wraparound screens with sound quality to deliver top immersive movie experiences. Mini Bounce play areas are on the cards for Kidz cinemas, and premium screen formats and a wide range of partners will ensure more affordable cinema visits, more often. A jam-packed film festival is awaiting African and international film enthusiasts and industry professionals from July 17 to 27 in Durban. Filled with premieres, masterclasses, Q&A sessions and workshops centred on the world of storytelling, a record number of attendees are expected at this year's 46th Durban International Film Festival. Look out for groundbreaking local films such as Lucky Fish, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight and many more. Get ready for a modern take on the popular throwback thriller I Know What You Did Last Summer, delivering new chills for the legacy slasher remake. Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, the film sees returning cast members Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jnr with new faces including Madelyn Cline and Nicholas Alexander Chavez. Five friends, one deadly secret and a hook-handed stalker who knows exactly what they did last summer. Time to head to cinemas. For full interviews, breaking news, trailers and clips visit our Spotlight Facebook page. See you at the movies. Presenter Collette Prince is styled and dressed by Claris by Gerrit Pienaar when attending premieres and special events. Facebook @Claris by Gerrit Pienaar/Instagram: gerritpienaardesigns. Competition and giveaways Send us your favourite Nu Metro cinema name and stand a chance to win a double VIP Nu Metro cinema voucher. For full competition details and the questions, go to the Spotlight SA Facebook page and DM your answers and contact details by July 23. Terms and conditions apply. Winners will be drawn randomly and notified by SMS after the competition has closed. Entrants' personal details will not be retained for marketing purposes. Winners have to provide proof of age (ID/driving licence) and cover their own travel and accommodation expenses. By entering, participants agree to have their names published on TimesLIVE, SowetanLIVE and Spotlight SA on Facebook. Employees of Ar ena Holdings and their family members are not eligible to enter.
San Francisco Chronicle
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: 'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight' shows war through one child's extraordinary eyes
'Are we racists?' That's the blunt question posed by Bobo, a white girl living on a farm in Africa, to her horrified (and defensive) mother. There are so many ways this three-word line reading could land wrongly, or just seem forced or mannered. But it feels thoroughly organic when voiced by Lexi Venter, an extraordinary first-time actor who gives, at age 7, one of the more compelling child performances in recent memory in 'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight.' It's a performance that was seeded, watered and nurtured by Embeth Davidtz, an extraordinary actor herself who wrote, directed and stars in this adaptation of Alexandra Fuller's admired 2001 memoir. One imagines Davidtz, in her triple role (and as a first-time director), had hundreds upon hundreds of decisions to make. Her most important, though, was finding and casting this youngster possessed of a wild nature, a mop of unruly hair and a face like a broad canvas waiting to be painted. The movie, which chronicles one family's life in the turbulent, waning days of white rule in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), was not always going to be narrated by a child. Davidtz's first attempt at adapting the memoir, told in third person, was too remote, she herself has said. Then she zoomed in on the idea of telling the tale uniquely from Bobo's perspective. Davidtz, who spent much of her childhood in South Africa, was drawn to the project because it recalled her own experience growing up in a world where racial inequality and violence were everywhere, but none of the adult explanations made much sense. The director's own family life also included, like the Fuller family's, mental illness and alcoholism; she has said that neither the outside world nor home life felt safe. And that's how it is for Bobo, 8 years old when we meet her, the younger of two daughters of Nicola and Tim Fuller. We will soon learn that another daughter died as a toddler in a tragic drowning — one of the reasons Nicola (Davidtz) is so emotionally tied to the family farm, as conveyed in one particularly brutal scene brimming with rage. She may not be native to the land, but her offspring is buried in its soil. We begin with Bobo explaining how she's afraid to go alone to pee in the night. 'Terrorists,' as they've been described by the adults, might lurk anywhere, even on the way to the bathroom, carrying a gun or knife or spear. But imaginary threats are accompanied by real ones. During the day, a trip into town with her mother necessitates an escort vehicle. 'I really hope we don't die in an ambush today,' Bobo says casually to an armed guard. This is a child who helps Dad pack his ammo at breakfast. The film, shot in South Africa, is set in the days before and after the 1980 parliamentary election, a crucial vote that will bring the Black majority to power in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. Visiting her parents' home, Nicola patronizingly instructs their Black servants on which candidate to support. At home, Nicola's desperation rages. She drinks bourbon by the bottle and sleeps with a huge gun. She doesn't spend much time with her daughters, which leaves Bobo plenty of time to hang out with the animals, ride her motorbike and smoke cigarettes. Such habits earn Bobo the disapproval of her most valued friend, Sarah (Zikhona Bali, in a warm and nuanced performance), one of two adult servants who work on the farm. The other is Jacob (Fumani N. Shilubana), who warns Sarah that her relationship with Bobo is too publicly affectionate in these precarious times. Besides, he tells her, Bobo thinks of her as a 'stupid village girl.' But there is real affection between the two. Privately, they laugh and share stories. And Sarah, conscious of the risks, tries to be the attentive parent Bobo lacks. When she catches the girl, messy-haired and smudgy-faced, smoking she scolds her. 'There's nothing wrong with me, I'm perfect!' Bobo replies, with the self-belief that comes from a childhood spent bossing around people like Sarah. You can direct moments like this, as Davidtz does expertly while somehow turning in a heartbreaking and increasingly unhinged performance of her own. But you can't manufacture lightning in a bottle — for example, the infectious joy Lexi exudes, even while Bobo's family is losing everything, singing a rowdy song about a stripper. Davidtz has said she searched far and wide to find her star, interviewing experienced child actors but not finding the 'feral' girl she needed. A Facebook search yielded Lexi. Davidtz knew she was right before even meeting her in person. Working with the girl three hours a day, she did not give her a script, but rather provided guidance and let her improvise. Nobody's perfect, though Bobo may think she is. But in Lexi's performance, Davidtz has found something pretty close: a child actor who can carry an entire film and never seem like she's acting. Bobo's story has now been told; let's hope we see young Lexi telling many more.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Embeth Davidtz says Spielberg, Altman influenced her directorial debut
LOS ANGELES, July 11 (UPI) -- Embeth Davidtz makes her screenwriting and directing debut in the film adaptation of Alexandra Fuller's memoir Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, in theaters Friday. As an actor on screen since 1989, Davidtz drew on memories of working with directors like Steven Spielberg in Schindler's List and Robert Altman in The Gingerbread Man while making the feature. In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Davidtz, 59, said she realized she'd been learning from Spielberg and other filmmakers when she stepped behind the camera herself. "I watched Steven set up a shot and be very exacting and specific with his actors," Davidtz said. "I watched Robert Altman move a camera. He had such a beautiful loose style." Davidtz optioned Fuller's book, which chronicles life in Zimbabwe before and after the 1980 election. Her goal was to hire a writer and director, but when she couldn't, decided to take on both roles herself. In her screenplay, Davidtz zeroed in on the portion of the book when 8-year-old Bobo (Lexi Vinter) is living on her parents' farm in Rhodesia, the former Zimbabwe. As the country's 1980 prime minister election approaches, in which Robert Mugabe would defeat Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith, Bobo has grown up apprehensive of Black Africans. Directing 8-year-old Lexi also reminded Davidtz of making the 1996 adaptation of Matilda. "Even Danny DeVito's dealing with a child, he was so beautiful with how he worked with Mara Wilson," she said "I think I was taking in things that helped me as a director long before I ever thought of directing something." Bobo's perspective was the only version of the story Davidtz felt comfortable telling as a White South African herself. Bobo talks about watching out for "terrorists," and bosses around the children of her parents' Black employees, because she learned the behavior. "It's not something she made up," Davidtz said. "That gives you the background to the family that she lives in and the society that she lives in." Davidtz also researched the Shona tribe of Zimbabwe, which factors into the story. She credits actors Zikhona Bali and Shilubana Fumani, both South African, with helping her steer potentially volatile scenes between Black and White characters. It also pleased Davidtz to see that behaving like a child of racist White Rhodesians was foreign to Lexi, who lives in modern South Africa. "She doesn't experience South Africa that way now," Davidtz said. "She said, 'Why do they treat them like that?' Which I thought was really actually hopeful to me that she's grown up in a much more integrated place than I did." Davidtz was a teenager in 1980 and living in South Africa following the Zimbabwe election. That is why she related to Fuller's book. "They were in a war which South Africa was not, but there was a lot of violence around us, a lot of oppression and suppression, people pulled off streets and state of emergencies being declared," she said. "Nelson Mandela was locked up that whole time. Anybody like him was either killed or locked up. It was like this pot boiling." In focusing on Bobo's story, Davidtz's own role shrank. She plays Nicola, Bobo's mother who sleeps with a machine gun in case of attacks by people she would consider terrorists. "Nobody wants to see this terribly racist woman behaving badly for an hour and a half," Davidtz said. "Then once I was directing, I was like let's really make that part as small as possible because I can't do all of it at once." Davidtz found Lexi through a Facebook post. It is Lexi's first role and Davidtz wanted an untrained actor. She also shielded Lexi from some of the more adult content of the film. Davidtz filmed with two cameras at once and gave Lexi instructions on how to react. "The way that I worked with her as a non-actor was not to give her a script," Davidtz said. "I didn't give her scenes to learn. If we were in an emotional scene, she didn't really know what was going on a lot of the time." Lexi did get to smoke cigarettes as one of Bobo's acts of rebellion. They were artificial and Davidtz warned her not to smoke real ones. "I said, 'You know why? Because it's going to make you look old and shriveled up before your time,'" she said. "I saw the eyes widen and she registered what I was saying." Now that Davidtz has directed, she would consider doing it again. She said, however, that it would have to be another passion project like Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. "I'd have to love my story as much as I love this story," she said. "I fell in love with that memoir. I just thought she'd done such a brilliant job creating those characters and the characters are the reason I thought, 'Oh, this would tell a great story.'"
UPI
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- UPI
Embeth Davidtz says Spielberg, Altman influenced her directorial debut
1 of 5 | Embeth Davidtz, seen at the 2017 American Cinematheque Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., adapted, directed and stars in "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight." File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo LOS ANGELES, July 11 (UPI) -- Embeth Davidtz makes her screenwriting and directing debut in the film adaptation of Alexandra Fuller's memoir Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, in theaters Friday. As an actor on screen since 1989, Davidtz drew on memories of working with directors like Steven Spielberg in Schindler's List and Robert Altman in The Gingerbread Man while making the feature. In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Davidtz, 59, said she realized she'd been learning from Spielberg and other filmmakers when she stepped behind the camera herself. "I watched Steven set up a shot and be very exacting and specific with his actors," Davidtz said. "I watched Robert Altman move a camera. He had such a beautiful loose style." Davidtz optioned Fuller's book, which chronicles life in Zimbabwe before and after the 1980 election. Her goal was to hire a writer and director, but when she couldn't, decided to take on both roles herself. In her screenplay, Davidtz zeroed in on the portion of the book when 8-year-old Bobo (Lexi Vinter) is living on her parents' farm in Rhodesia, the former Zimbabwe. As the country's 1980 prime minister election approaches, in which Robert Mugabe would defeat Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith, Bobo has grown up apprehensive of Black Africans. Directing 8-year-old Lexi also reminded Davidtz of making the 1996 adaptation of Matilda. "Even Danny DeVito's dealing with a child, he was so beautiful with how he worked with Mara Wilson," she said "I think I was taking in things that helped me as a director long before I ever thought of directing something." Bobo's perspective was the only version of the story Davidtz felt comfortable telling as a White South African herself. Bobo talks about watching out for "terrorists," and bosses around the children of her parents' Black employees, because she learned the behavior. "It's not something she made up," Davidtz said. "That gives you the background to the family that she lives in and the society that she lives in." Davidtz also researched the Shona tribe of Zimbabwe, which factors into the story. She credits actors Zikhona Bali and Shilubana Fumani, both South African, with helping her steer potentially volatile scenes between Black and White characters. It also pleased Davidtz to see that behaving like a child of racist White Rhodesians was foreign to Lexi, who lives in modern South Africa. "She doesn't experience South Africa that way now," Davidtz said. "She said, 'Why do they treat them like that?' Which I thought was really actually hopeful to me that she's grown up in a much more integrated place than I did." Davidtz was a teenager in 1980 and living in South Africa following the Zimbabwe election. That is why she related to Fuller's book. "They were in a war which South Africa was not, but there was a lot of violence around us, a lot of oppression and suppression, people pulled off streets and state of emergencies being declared," she said. "Nelson Mandela was locked up that whole time. Anybody like him was either killed or locked up. It was like this pot boiling." In focusing on Bobo's story, Davidtz's own role shrank. She plays Nicola, Bobo's mother who sleeps with a machine gun in case of attacks by people she would consider terrorists. "Nobody wants to see this terribly racist woman behaving badly for an hour and a half," Davidtz said. "Then once I was directing, I was like let's really make that part as small as possible because I can't do all of it at once." Davidtz found Lexi through a Facebook post. It is Lexi's first role and Davidtz wanted an untrained actor. She also shielded Lexi from some of the more adult content of the film. Davidtz filmed with two cameras at once and gave Lexi instructions on how to react. "The way that I worked with her as a non-actor was not to give her a script," Davidtz said. "I didn't give her scenes to learn. If we were in an emotional scene, she didn't really know what was going on a lot of the time." Lexi did get to smoke cigarettes as one of Bobo's acts of rebellion. They were artificial and Davidtz warned her not to smoke real ones. "I said, 'You know why? Because it's going to make you look old and shriveled up before your time,'" she said. "I saw the eyes widen and she registered what I was saying." Now that Davidtz has directed, she would consider doing it again. She said, however, that it would have to be another passion project like Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. "I'd have to love my story as much as I love this story," she said. "I fell in love with that memoir. I just thought she'd done such a brilliant job creating those characters and the characters are the reason I thought, 'Oh, this would tell a great story.'"
