Embeth Davidtz drew on her childhood in Africa to adapt Fuller's memoir

In 1974, when it seemed as though everyone was leaving South Africa, Embeth Davidtz's family was going back. Davidtz, a familiar presence in films and television for over 30 years with memorable roles in everything from “Schindler's List” to “Matilda,” was born in the United States to white, South African parents. When she was 8, they decided to return during a time of upheaval. Although the transition from “innocent New Jersey” was hard, it was also a life-making, characterand imagination-building experience that she’s still processing to this day.

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It’s where she grew up. It’s where she began acting. And it's where she'd return decades later to direct her first film, “Don’t Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight,” a poetic and deeply personal adaptation of Alexandra Fuller’s memoir about growing up during the Bush War in Zimbabwe, which was then Rhodesia.

The film, which was widely praised at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals for its deft handling of complex themes and for the discovery of young newcomer Lexi Venter, opens Friday in limited release and expands nationwide on July 18. “The sun rises and sets on her writing,” Davidtz said in an interview with The Associated Press, “If anything works, it’s because of that memoir.”

Like so many people, especially those who lived in Africa in the 1970s and 80s, Davidtz devoured the book when it came out in 2001. But it would take more than 15 years to start seriously thinking about a film. Davidtz was refocusing after a little hiatus from acting: She'd survived breast cancer, raised children and was reflecting on parts of the book she loved, like Fuller's mother, a complex figure who struggled with trauma, alcohol and mental health. Davidtz, who is now 59, could have hardly predicted that this journey would lead to her writing, directing and producing her first feature as well.