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Greg Laemmle on DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT.

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This week we’re opening the new drama Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight at the Royal. We’ll expand the engagements to all but one of our our other venues around L.A. County the following week. Laemmle Theatres president Greg Laemmle saw the film and loved it so much he was able to secure an interview with the filmmaker/co-star, Embeth Davidtz on his and Raphael Sbarge’s podcast Inside the Arthouse. He wrote the following to introduce the episode:

“As part of producing Inside the Arthouse, we see a lot of movies. And while many are compelling and well-made, naturally some of them stand out. Of all the films we’ve seen so far this year, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight has definitely moved to the top of the list.

“Based on Alexandra Fuller’s memoir of the same name, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight captures the childhood of eight-year-old Bobo on her family farm in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) at the end of the Zimbabwean War for Independence in 1980. Growing up in the midst of this long-running war, Bobo internalizes both sides of the struggle. Conflicted by her love for people on opposing sides, she tries to make sense of her life in a magical way. Through her childish gaze we witness Rhodesia’s final days, the family’s unbreakable bond with Africa, and the deep scars that war leaves on survivors.

“This powerful film has been brought to the screen by first-time director Embeth Davidtz. An actress who has worked with filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Robert Altman, and Sam Raimi, Ms. Davidtz draws from her own experiences growing up in apartheid South Africa to bring striking authenticity to the story of a family of white farmers in Zimbabwe.

“The film is told through the eyes of young Bobo — played with extraordinary depth by newcomer Lexi Venter — as she witnesses the political upheaval in a land on the brink of change.

“A hit at the prestigious Telluride and Toronto International film festivals, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight is opening on July 11 in New York and Los Angeles before rolling out nationally.

“You won’t want to miss our conversation with Ms. Davidtz where we discuss her journey from actor to filmmaker and the challenges of adapting this beloved memoir — on Inside the Arthouse.”

Join us July 24 for the sixth annual Art House Theater Day at the Monicas, Glendale, NoHo and Claremont.

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In concert with the the Art House Convergence, the nationwide coalition of independent exhibitors that connects, amplifies, and advocates for its community, Laemmle Theatres is pleased to celebrate Art House Theater Day (AHTD) this July 24 by screening four fabulous films curated by this year’s ambassadors, filmmakers Sean Baker and Samantha Quan:

Sean Baker’s Tangerine (2015) at the NoHo, Lily Tomlin’s The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1991) at the Monica Film Center, Céline Sciamma’s Tomboy (2011) at the Glendale, and Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart (2006) at the Claremont.

Taken together, the four beautifully represent the breadth, depth, humor, profundity and diversity that art house moviegoers seek out and embrace.

The Tangerine screening will include exclusive content with AHTD ambassadors Sean Baker and Samantha Quan. The Search for Signs screening will feature a special salute to AHTD audiences from star Lily Tomlin.

THE LIFE OF CHUCK is an art house summer sleeper. Don’t skip this one.

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We have been playing the Neon-released Stephen King adapatation The Life of Chuck at two of our theaters since mid-June and are expanding it to three more venues this Friday because the film, as they say, has legs. It’s a charmer and a sleeper. “Telling the story of Chuck’s life in reverse chronology, the film is a big, bold crowd-pleaser, complete with a showstopping dance number featuring [Tom] Hiddleston and Annalise Basso. But it’s also startlingly personal, as we learn about Chuck’s childhood being raised by his grandparents Albee (Mark Hamill) and Sarah (Mia Sara). The deceptively simple drama takes a look at the unexpected legacy we leave behind, kicked off by the appearance of cryptic billboards all over town reading: ‘Charles Krantz, 39 Great Years! Thanks, Chuck!’ The film…is buoyed by a remarkable ensemble that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and several talented young actors sharing the role of the titular accountant.” ~ Janelle Riley, Variety

“A lot of movies barely have a point of view at all. This one is a prism in comparison. It gives viewers what David Lynch called ‘room to dream.'” ~ Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com

“It’s an unexpected emotional wallop that knocks you off your feet. The Life of Chuck pricks the soul like that even as it warms our aching hearts.” ~ Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News

“This is one of the best ensembles of the year, filled in with appearances by many of Flanagan’s past collaborators.” ~ Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

“A film that’s as sweet as it is scary, and whose frights are the sort that come from all-too-relatable fears about being alone, being apart, and being unable to hold onto the people and memories that matter most.” ~ Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

Filmmaker Embeth Davidtz & Executive Producer Trevor Noah in Person for DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT July 10.

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Based on Alexandra Fuller’s memoir of the same name, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight captures the childhood of eight-year-old Bobo on her family farm in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) at the end of the Zimbabwean War for Independence in 1980. Growing up in the midst of this long running war, Bobo internalizes both sides of the struggle. Conflicted by her love for people on opposing sides, she tries to make sense of her life in a magical way. Through her eight-year-old gaze we witness Rhodesia’s final days, the family’s unbreakable bond with Africa, and the deep scars that war leaves on survivors.

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight writer-director Embeth Davidtz & executive producer Trevor Noah will participate in an in-person Q&A after the July 10 early access screening at the Royal.

The regular engagement will begin the following day at the Royal, followed by an expansion to all but one of our other theaters on July 18.

A winning portrait of New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, PRIME MINISTER screens this weekend at the Laemmle Claremont, Glendale, Monica Film Center, Newhall, and Town Center.

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In August 2017, in the lead-up to national elections, Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly became New Zealand’s opposition party leader. She had just turned 37. Two frenetic months later, she was Prime Minister. Just before the final vote was in, she discovered she was pregnant. She would become only the second head of state in history to give birth while in office.

Ardern quickly became one of the most recognizable leaders in the world. She drew global attention from people craving a sensitive and compassionate approach to the critical issues of our time. In private, she struggled with being a mother and proving herself to a public skeptical of women’s leadership. A series of crises – the Christchurch massacre, pandemic lockdowns, and disinformation-fueled protests outside Parliament – would test that leadership and the feminine touch she brought to it. She resigned from office in January 2023, shocking her supporters and critics alike.

Going behind the scenes of her administration and her private life, PRIME MINISTER follows Jacinda for seven years as she is catapulted to the top of New Zealand politics, becomes a feminist political icon, resigns suddenly from office and continues to champion the fight against isolationism, fear, and the distortion of truth. Intimate home footage shot by her husband and audio interviews that Jacinda did while in office give us unparalleled access. Along with in-depth contemporaneous interviews, these form the emotional backbone of the story, giving viewers an unfiltered window into her years in power.

The world is at a perilous political crossroads. Trust in institutions, expertise, and liberal democracy itself are under dire strain. Which direction will we go? PRIME MINISTER leaves viewers wondering what the world might be like with more Jacindas at the helm.

“The qualities that endeared Ardern to the world and — for her first term, at least — to her country were a directness, intelligence, drive and unglamorous charm that PRIME MINISTER convincingly presents as entirely unmanufactured.” ~ Ty Burr, Washington Post

“In many ways, the documentary is as unprecedented as Ardern’s career.” ~ Sheila O’Malley, RogerEbert.com

“PRIME MINISTER’s portrait of Ardern is so persuasive it might make you wish you could vote for her.” ~ Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter

“World leaders have rarely been captured with as much intimacy.” ~ Siddhant Adlakha, Variety

The brilliant documentary A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY opens June 12 with in-person Q&A’s.

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Thirty years after her mother’s death, photographer Rachel Elizabeth Seed discovers her mother’s work — more than 50 hours of interviews with the greatest photographers of the 20th century, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lisette Model, Gordon Parks, Cecil Beaton, William Albert Allard, Brian Lanker, Cornell Capa, Bruce Davidson and Eliot Porter. When Rachel threads in the audio reels and presses play, she hears her mother’s voice for the first time since she was a baby. Sheila Turner-Seed, a daring, world-traveling journalist ahead of her time, died suddenly of a brain aneurysm when Rachel was just 18 months old. Moved to uncover more of what she left behind, Rachel sets out to revisit her mom’s subjects, family and friends, revisiting the photographers she interviewed decades before. As new truths emerge, Rachel builds an unlikely relationship with her mother through the audio recordings, photographs, and films her mother made during her brief life, crafting an imagined conversation through the cinematic medium. As she discovers the shocking secrets which may have led to her mother’s untimely death, Rachel’s ability to forge her own path hinges on how these revelations affect her own life. The film draws from footage of Rachel’s visits to the photographers her mother interviewed, Sheila’s award-winning audio-visual work, Super 8 family films, still photography, audio letters and journals, weaving together personal and photo-historical media to tell a universal story — about facing mortality and loss, the construction of memory and the restoration of a legacy. Along this path, Rachel explores the question of whether it is possible to get to know someone through the things they leave behind.

We are planning several special screenings with the A Photographic Memory filmmaker and its champions:

June 12, 7:30 P.M. at the Laemmle NoHo:
This screening of A Photographic Memory is co-presented by Video Consortium with a Q&A to follow featuring filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed, co-writer/editor Christopher Stoudt, and special guest, moderated by Video Consortium organizer Lauren Mahoney.
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June 14, 10:00 A.M. at the Laemmle Monica Film Center:
 
This screening of A Photographic Memory is co-presented by From the Heart Productions and Authentic Global Film Awards, with a Q&A to follow moderated by Variety film critic Carlos Aguilar, featuring director Rachel Elizabeth Seed in conversation with producer Ana Lydia Monaco and additional special guests. In this discussion, they will pull back the curtain on the visionary production of A Photographic Memory‘s recreation sequences, produced by Monaco in Los Angeles.
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June 16, 7:00 P.M. at the Laemmle Monica Film Center:
Q&A with director Rachel Elizabeth Seed + Gallerist Peter Fetterman to follow this screening. Co-presented by Peter Fetterman Gallery.

Ms. Seed wrote the following statement about her film:

“In my photography and creative work, I am driven by the desire for connection. Perhaps this is because my mother died when I was a baby; I’m always seeking to reconcile this loss in my life. It’s this drive that inspired me to make my debut feature documentary, A Photographic Memory.

“My work as an artist, photographer, photo editor, curator, writer, arts community founder, and cinematographer have greatly informed my knowledge and aesthetic sensibility in the media arts, paving the way for this film project and for my transition from photography to filmmaking. From 2004-2011 I created an audio-visual series about motherless women, interviewing and photographing 40 women and girls around the world, but it wasn’t until I turned the camera on my life in A Photographic Memory that I began to make sense of my loss. As I just turned the age my mother was when she died, it is also a personally timely project. I hope for the result to be cathartic for myself and for an audience who relates to losing someone close or being estranged from a parent. At the same time, I aim to memorialize my mother’s legacy as a woman ahead of her time who contributed to the canon of photography history. She died in her prime but left an undeniable mark through her work and great compassion for humanity. This legacy would be forgotten without this film.

“What excites me aesthetically about A Photographic Memory is the challenge of weaving the archival footage, photographs and audio along with contemporary footage together in a cohesive, artistic whole. Using my mother’s raw interviews with photographers as a thematic backbone, I draw from 100 years of our family’s Super 8 films, still photographs, contact sheets, letters, my mother’s journals, her journalistic tear sheets, and the footage I have shot of my own life and journey. My aim is for the disparate elements to transcend their individual meaning in order to tell the greater story of my search to know my mother, and through that, to make sense of life’s ephemerality. I have always been interested in the space where “real” elements are woven together to create a fabricated reality, which is both indisputable yet non-factual, representing my objective vision.

“The film plays on the tensions between remembering and forgetting, recovery and loss, and the probing of relationship and portraiture through lost archives, juxtaposition and cinematic form.”

Upcoming films in our Worldwide Wednesday series include movies from Brazil, Japan, France, Australia and Kazakhstan.

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Laemmle Theatres’ weekly series of fresh international films, Worldwide Wednesdays! Most are newer obscure films that we want to bring to a broader L.A. audience, screening in multiple venues all over L.A. County so cinephiles will not have to schlep to a single location. The films, however, come from many thousands of miles away! Screenings are Wednesday evenings with encore showings on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

PERFECT ENDINGS June 4, 7 & 8. After a decade-long relationship ends, filmmaker João finds himself at a crossroads in both his personal and professional lives. While trying to break into the film industry, he ends up directing amateur erotic films. With the support of loyal friends, João embarks on a dating journey, navigating modern romance and finding inspiration. Directed by Daniel Ribeiro. (Brazil, 2024)

BLOCK PASS June 11, 14 & 15. A queer motocross coming-of-age drama—sensitive, deeply felt, and quietly profound—that establishes Antoine Chevrollier as a filmmaker to watch. Reminiscent of Rebel Without a Cause but with dirt bikes as the vehicle for defiance, the film follows blood-brothers Willy (Sayyid El Alami) and Jojo (Amaury Foucher) as they navigate grief, masculinity, and unspoken desires. Directed by Antoine Chevrollier. (2024, France/United States)

ZÉNITHAL JUNE 18, 21 & 22. Ti-Kong, the famous kung fu master, is found dead. Could the assassin be the Machiavellian Dr. Sweeper? Insecure Francis falls into his clutches as he becomes a crucial part of Sweeper’s scheme to preserve absolute male domination over the globe. That is, unless Sonia, Francis’ girlfriend, decides to take action to save him, restore their relationship, and establish peace between the sexes. Directed by Jean-Baptiste Saurel. (France, 2024)

SHALL WE DANCE? June 25, 28 & 29. Shohei Sugiyama seems to have it all — a high-paying job as an accountant, a beautiful home, a caring wife and a doting daughter he loves dearly. However, he feels something is missing in his life. One day while commuting on the train he spots a beautiful woman staring wistfully out a window and eventually decides to find her. His search leads him head-first into the world of competitive ballroom dancing. Directed by Masayuki Suô. (Japan, 1996)

SHANGHAI BLUES July 2, 5 & 6. In 1937, a soldier and a young woman meet in darkness under a bridge as they seek refuge during a bombing. Although they can’t see each other’s faces, they promise to meet again after the dust settles. Ten years later, the soldier, now a burgeoning songwriter and tuba player, is back in town desperately searching for his would-be soulmate. As fate would have it, they unknowingly end up living in the same building. Through a series of mishaps, he mistakes her new roommate for his love interest, and love triangle hijinks ensue. Directed by Tsui Hark. (Hong Kong, 1984)

THE SURVIVAL OF KINDNESS July 9, 12 & 13. In a cage on a trailer in the middle of the desert, BlackWoman is abandoned. But BlackWoman seems not ready to pass…she escapes, and walks through pestilence and persecution, from desert to canyon to mountain to city, on a quest that leads to a city, recapture and tragedy. BlackWoman, escaping once more, must find solace in her beginnings. Directed by Rolf de Heer. (Australia, 2022)

THE POLISH WOMEN July 16, 19 & 20. Rio de Janeiro, early 20th century. Escaping famine in Poland, Rebeca (Valentina Herszage), together with her son Joseph, arrives in Brazil to meet her husband, who immigrated first hoping for a better life for the three of them. However, she finds a completely different reality in Rio de Janeiro. Rebeca discovers that her husband has passed away and ends up a hostage of a large network of prostitution and trafficking of Jewish women headed by the ruthless Tzvi (Caco Ciocler). To escape this exploitation, she will need to transgress her beliefs. Directed by João Jardim. (Brazil, 2023)

A WORLD APART July 23, 26 & 27. Arriving during a snowstorm to take a post at a tiny rural school on the verge of closure, Cortese (Antonio Albanese) finds himself far from the comforts of Rome and faced with a lively, multi-age class. With the support of Agnese (Virginia Raffaele), the school’s passionate vice-principal, he gradually sheds his urban habits and rediscovers the true meaning of teaching — rooted in empathy, resilience, and the power of community. Directed by Riccardo Milani. (Italy, 2024)

FORBIDDEN GAMES July 30, August 2 & 3. When her parents are killed in an air strike while trying to flee Paris during the German invasion, five-year-old Paulette (Brigitte Fossey) (“in a performance that rips the heart out” – New York Times) wanders into the French countryside, where she encounters 11-year-old peasant boy Michel (Georges Poujouly). As they build a special, secret friendship, the adults play their own games of buffoonish peasant feuds. A masterpiece of French post-war cinema, Forbidden Games won the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival — and then became a worldwide art house smash. Directed by René Clément. (France, 1952)

THE TIME IT TAKES August 6, 9 & 10. A devoted father shares a special bond with his young daughter, but as she grows, the enchantment begins to fade. Adolescence brings distance and disillusionment. She spirals into drug use, concealing her struggles from her father. Refusing to turn away, he takes a decisive step — bringing her to Paris in a final attempt to rekindle their connection and guide her back to herself. Directed by Francesca Comencini. (Italy/France, 2024)

THE TIES THAT BIND US August 13, 16 & 17. A poignant adaptation of Alice Ferney’s L’Intimité, Carine Tardieu’s The Ties that Bind Us explores how unexpected bonds can transform our beliefs and definitions of family. Sandra (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), a librarian who never wanted children, reluctantly agrees to care for her neighbor’s young son Elliot while his mother gives birth. When tragedy strikes, Sandra, Elliot, and his father find their lives unexpectedly intertwined. Tender and empathetic, Tardieu’s film is a moving meditation on grief, connection, and the forms love and family can take. Directed by Carine Tardieu. (France/Belgium, 2024)

BAURYNA SALU August 27, 30 & 31. In Kazakhstan, the ancient nomadic tradition of “bauryna salu” dictates that firstborn children are raised by their grandparents. Following this custom, Yersultan is sent to live with his grandmother from birth, growing up in her care while feeling increasingly abandoned by his parents. Though he forms a deep bond with his grandmother, Yersultan remains emotionally distant from his parents. At age 12, his world is shattered by his grandmother’s death, which forces him to leave the only home he’s ever known and return to live with a family he barely recognizes. Directed by Askhat Kuchinchirekov. (Kazakhstan, 2023)

“Laura Piani’s splendid debut balances reality with the effervescent charm of vintage swooners.” JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE opens May 23.

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If you are in need of some escapism that piques rather than insults your intelligence, we strongly recommend the new French rom-com Jane Austen Wrecked My Life. We open it May 23 at the Royal and May 30 at all but one of our other theaters. (Its writer-director, Laura Piani, is interviewed on the latest episode of Inside the Arthouse.)

Variety’s Chief Film Critic Peter Debruge perfectly captures the film’s charms in his review, whose subhead reads “Laura Piani’s splendid debut balances reality with the effervescent charm of vintage swooners.”

Debruge’s review is worth quoting at length:

“A diet of romantic literature is a recipe for disappointment in real life, argues French director Laura Piani with Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, about an aspiring writer who’s convinced she was born in the wrong century, if only because she still believes in things like soulmates and courtship. Part homage, part referendum on all those love stories that make it look easy, Piani’s just-jaded-enough alternative fills the regrettable gap left by such feel-good classics as Four Weddings and a Funeral and the Austen-inspired Bridget Jones’s Diary. Sony Pictures Classics plans a limited release for May 23, going wide a week later.

“At a time when practically the entire rom-com genre has gravitated to streaming, this bilingual theatrical offering from Sony Pictures Classics feels like the best kind of throwback. Presented as a lighthearted farce, complete with characters stepping (naked) through the wrong doors and a tense cross-country ride, in which Agathe complains in French (not realizing her companion speaks the language), the film is at once old-fashioned and refreshingly, realistically up to date in its take on modern courtship.

“Blocked in both love and literature, Agathe (Camille Rutherford) is an exasperated Frenchwoman working at Shakespeare and Company, the adorably cluttered English-language bookstore situated just a few meters from Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. According to Austen’s standards, Agathe — who identifies most closely with Anne Elliot in Persuasion — might seem at genuine risk of spinsterhood, having made it to her mid-30s without a prospect. It’s been years since she’s had so much as a kiss, and the hopeless singleton finds herself pouring all of her idealism and frustration into futile creative writing exercises until … inspiration strikes during a solitary dinner as she stares deep into a novelty sake cup.

“Behind Agathe’s back, her encouraging (if frequently inappropriate) best friend Félix (Pablo Pauly) sends off the first few chapters of this new project to a writer’s residency at Austen’s onetime abode, hoping to give Agathe the “kick in the arse” she needs. Friendship, as Austen herself wrote, is “the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.” The next thing she knows, Agathe is crossing the Channel to visit the author’s estate. There, she spars with (but also falls for) one of the author’s distant relatives: Austen’s priggish great-great-great-grandnephew Oliver (Charlie Anson).

“Piani shot the entire film in France, but it truly feels as if it has a foot in both cultures. Anson could be a young Rupert Everett’s bookish brother, and has clearly studied every wince and eye flutter in Hugh Grant’s arsenal, combining such tools into a 21st-century version of the Mr. Darcy archetype. From the frosty first encounter between Agathe and Oliver, in which she steps off the ferry and promptly retches on his loafers, audiences should find themselves rooting for these two to recognize how compatible they are.

“But Agathe is wrestling with more than just her insecurities, as kissing Félix just before she took the ferry has stirred up newfound feelings for her old friend. Félix is a serial womanizer and a classic cad with whom she’s always felt a certain unexplored sexual tension, despite their many years of platonic companionship, and even in his absence, this development stands to complicate whatever she feels for Oliver. (Lest one doubt where viewers’ allegiances should lie, composer Peter von Poehl’s score practically quotes “Yumeji’s Theme” from In the Mood for Love, a romantic melody that’s all but impossible to resist.)

“A few decades ago, a film like this might have had little chance of success competing with Hollywood-made rom-coms, but that steady stream has moved to, well, streaming, leaving a space wide open for audiences still looking to laugh and swoon at their local art house. As its almost defeatist title implies, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life has an intriguing relation to such escapism, recognizing that fiction in all its forms (whether literary or cinematic) has spoiled so many people’s expectations of what love can be.

“Piani casts a gangly, wide-eyed actor to play Agathe. Rutherford is far from the dime-a-dozen ingénues so often seen in French movies, with their voluptuous figures and vacant expressions — and so much the better, as it sets an unrealistic standard for young women to aspire to (while no such standard exists for their gargoyle-like male co-stars). Instead, she excels at being awkward, incorporating pratfalls and physical comedy into a role that doesn’t turn the head of every man she meets. Although Agathe is quite lovely in a less conventional way, Piani allows her intellect and personality to be the character’s most attractive traits.”

Click here to read the rest of the review.