Embeth Davidtz's Directorial Debut 'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight' Confronts Apartheid-Era South Africa

Published: July 9, 2025

Actress Embeth Davidtz, known for her stellar performances in movies like "Schindler's List," "Junebug," and "Bridget Jones's Diary," has made her directorial debut with "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight," a gripping and somber drama based on Alexandra Fuller's acclaimed 2001 memoir about growing up in colonial Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

The film, set in 1980, follows the story of Nicola, an angry, alcoholic policewoman whose privileged life crumbles as the Zimbabwean War upends the country's racial power imbalance. Davidtz plays Nicola in the movie, which she also wrote and directed.

Davidtz's personal connection to the film runs deep. Born in Indiana, she moved to Pretoria, South Africa, with her family at the age of eight and spent 17 years there. The experience had a profound impact on her, and she has been grappling with the institutional racism she witnessed during her childhood.

"I think it's a constant processing," Davidtz says of how she is always reckoning with her past. "I think I'll probably have to grapple with it till the day that I die — what I remember seeing."

The film does not shy away from confronting the ugly reality of racism, and Davidtz's performance as Nicola is boldly brazen and unflinching. "This [performance] was hard and it was scary, but it was necessary," she says.

Davidtz's directorial debut is a significant step in her career, and she hopes it will spark important conversations about racism and injustice. "When you've been in a place where things have been so wrong, you spot it really quickly in other places," she says.

Read more about Embeth Davidtz's journey and her directorial debut here.

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