117-119 Clerkenwell Road, London
Thu 20 Aug · 18:30
Starring the late Sam Neill as disillusioned drifter Smith who retreats to an isolated stretch of the New Zealand countryside in search of peace. His solitude is shattered when an authoritarian government tightens its grip on the country, forcing him into the path of a growing resistance movement. Reluctantly drawn into a conflict he never sought, Smith finds himself at the centre of a struggle that threatens to erupt into civil war. Based on C. K. Stead's novel Smith's Dream, Sleeping Dogs is widely regarded as the film that launched the modern New Zealand film industry. Directed by Roger Donaldson and featuring Sam Neill in his first leading screen role, the film combines political thriller, action cinema and dystopian speculation to imagine an alarmingly plausible slide into authoritarianism. Decades later, its portrait of democratic institutions under pressure remains as compelling as ever.