International Booker films cast

The International Booker Prize is turning its 2026 shortlist into a series of short films, with Toby Jones, Indira Varma and Toheeb Jimoh among the performers. (thebookerprizes.com) Kae Alexander, Jehnny Beth and Xelia Mendes-Jones complete the six-person cast, and the films are due to be released on Thursday, April 16, 2026. The Booker Prize Foundation said the trailer went up on its social channels on April 14. (thebookerprizes.com) Each actor performs an extract from one of the six shortlisted books for the 2026 prize, which honors fiction translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The winner will be announced on May 19 at Tate Modern in London. (thebookerprizes.com) (timesnownews.com) The prize is marking its 10th year in its current form in 2026, and the film rollout extends a campaign the foundation has used to push shortlisted books beyond the usual literary audience. Deadline reported that the 2025 Booker Prize films, directed by Sasha Nathwani, were watched more than 100 million times. (thebookerprizes.com) (deadline.com) This year’s shortlist spans six books set in 1930s Taiwan, Nazi-era Austria, post-revolution Iran, a Brazilian prison colony, suburban France and the Albanian Alps. Five of the six authors are women, and two of the shortlisted books are debut novels. (thebookseller.com) (timesnownews.com) The £50,000 prize is split equally between the winning author and translator, and each shortlisted title also receives £5,000, divided between the two. The 2026 shortlist was selected by a judging panel chaired by Natasha Brown from 128 submitted books. (thebookseller.com) The films were directed by Holly Blakey and shot at the Southbank Centre in London, including the Purcell Room and the National Poetry Library. The cast was styled in vintage and contemporary Vivienne Westwood, with original music by Gwilym Gold. (thebookerprizes.com) The series will also be screened at a 10th-anniversary International Booker event at the Southbank Centre on May 8, ahead of the May 19 winner announcement. For the prize, the films are now part of the pitch as much as the pages. (thebookerprizes.com)