Anele Mdoda eyes Oscars for powerful debut film
'Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight' is already earning praise on the global film festival circuit.
Picture: Instagram/@sonyclassics
CapeTalk’s Sara-Jayne Makwala King is joined by media personality, Anele Mdoda.
Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below.
Anele Mdoda is aiming high with her latest project, and she’s not being shy about it.
The South African media personality is the executive producer, alongside Trevor Noah and Frankie Du Toit, of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, a deeply emotional adaptation of Alexandra Fuller’s memoir set during the final days of the Rhodesian war.
Directed by and starring Embeth Davidtz in her directorial debut, the film tells the story through the eyes of eight-year-old Bobo, and it’s already generating awards buzz.
Mdoda has her hopes pinned on some big Academy Awards (Oscars) categories, including Best Director for Davidtz, Best Actress for child star Lexi Venter, and Best Supporting Actor for Rob Van Vuuren.
"I want to speak Oscars because I want my voice to vibrate over the ocean, and they must hear that this is a movie that has to be nominated."
- Anele Mdoda, media personality
"So Embeth's best director, Lexi, best actress... they say that it's the best child performance they've seen since Jodie Foster... I want them to pay attention to Rob Van Vuuren as best supporting. I want them to pay attention to Embeth's adaptation of the screenplay..."
- Anele Mdoda, media personality
What makes this film different, explains Mdoda, is the way it holds space for both the political and the personal.
"There's war outside, but then in this household, there's another war, it's silent, there's war. And then there's a war of an eight-year-old who says what she wants to say, you cannot filter her. She'll be sitting and be like, Hi, are we racist? And then the entire house is like in turmoil, because these decisions that you're having to make whether you stay or go in Rhodesia are actually executed from the departure point of are we racist?"
- Anele Mdoda, media personality
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight is now showing in cinemas.
Scroll up to listen to the full conversation