To read or not to read, that is the question every film lover asks themselves. Do you want to go into a movie blind, or do you love reading the source material first? Maybe the book will read better after you’ve seen the film and can envision the actors in their literary roles?
Regardless of your preferences, festival season is a great time to pick up a novel or two. Whether you’re waiting in line for your next screening or want to get a jump on things before some of this year’s buzziest films hit screens big and small, we have your must-read film list ready below…
Here are 14 books getting the big-screen treatment at TIFF:
The Man in My Basement
A mysterious man (Willem Dafoe) offers to rent the lower floor of Charles’ (Corey Hawkins) home in director Nadia Latiff’s The Man in My Basement. Adapted from mystery writer Walter Mosley’s novel, Charles is drawn into his new dweller’s odd world, where childhood terrors and reality come crashing together.
Ballad of a Small Player
Author Lawrence Osborne’s novel serves as the source material for Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player. As his past and his debts start to catch up with him, a high-stakes gambler (Colin Farrell) lying low at Macau’s casinos encounters a kindred spirit who might just be the answer he’s been looking for. Osborne’s rich source material should provide for a compelling feature film, as did his 2012 work The Forgiven–the source material for the criminally underseen TIFF 2021 film of the same name, starring Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain.
Train Dreams
Based on Pulitzer Prize finalist Denis Johnson’s novella of the same name, Joel Edgerton stars as an early 20th-century labourer in the logging and rail industry. Here he witnesses both incredible feats of engineering and the horrendous treatment of Chinese immigrant workers–a site that haunts him. Directed by Clint Bentley (Jockey) and co-written by Sing Sing’s Greg Kwedar, the film also features Felicity Jones, William H. Macy, and Will Patton.
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was practically begging for the Guillermo del Toro treatment. The director takes some liberties with the gothic masterpiece, but that hardly matters when it features Oscar Isaac as the brilliant-but-troubled scientist Victor Frankenstein, and Jacob Elordi as his spectacular creation. Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, David Bradley and Lars Mikkelsen round out the cast.
Riz Ahmed stars as the tragic prince in the first Hamlet adaptation with a predominantly non-white cast. Trading in Danish fortresses for London’s South Asian community, this adaptation of Shakespeare’s work retains his original text.
Hamnet
Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao finds inspiration from Shakespeare himself with her latest film, Hamnet. Based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell, the story centres on the Bard’s wife, Agnes (Jessie Buckley), as she and William S. (Paul Mescal) mourn the death of their young son, Hamnet. It is this family tragedy that underscores his most famous work, Hamlet.
& Sons
Our Oscar-winning Canadian queen, Sarah Polley, co-wrote the screenplay for & Sons with Pablo Trapero. Adapted from David Gilbert’s novel, & Sons tells the story of an aging writer (Bill Nighy) trying to reconnect with his sons (George MacKay, Johnny Flynn, Noah Jupe) for the first, and likely last, time.
Out Standing
The story of Sandra Perron, Canada’s first woman infantry officer, is told in Mélanie Charbonneau’s new dramatic film adaptation. Based on Perron’s best-selling 2017 memoir Out Standing in the Field, this big-screen feature chronicles her experience in a hostile environment rife with inequity, harassment, abuse, and gruelling physical demands.
Three Goodbyes
Adapted from the semi-autobiographical novel Tre ciotole by Michela Muriga, Marta (Alba Rohrwacher) is a school teacher married to a rising star chef (Elio Germano). When faced with a health crisis, Marta must come to terms with her life as she’s lived it and what drives her forward.
Winter of the Crow
Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk’s short story “Professor Andrews Goes to Warsaw,” Lesley Manville stars as a visiting academic in Cold War-era Warsaw as the country enters martial law in 1981. Finding herself on the run through empty concrete streets as tanks and militia take over, she scrambles to return home while remaining on the right side of history.
Hedda
Director Nia DaCosta reimagines Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler with Tessa Thompson in the title role. With a hedonistic heroine hemmed into polite society, it’s a bold look at feminism, sexuality, and society. Hedda is a master manipulator who orchestrates an elaborate game that tears at social politics and decorum.
The Fence
Claire Denis adapts Bernard-Marie Koltès’ play Black Battles with Dogs for The Fence. Matt Dillion is a supervisor on a British-owned construction site in Africa, where a local worker was killed in an accident. When the dead man’s family arrives demanding answers, tensions boil over as the construction site becomes a powder keg ready to explode.
The Lost Bus
Matthew McConaughey stars as a bus driver struggling to bring a busload of children to safety as the 2018 California “Camp” wildfire spreads rapidly out of control in Paul Greengrass’ latest, The Lost Bus. The film is based on Lizzie Johnson’s non-fiction book, Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire.
No Other Choice
Veering in a different direction from his TIFF 2022 effort Decision to Leave, Park Chan-wook’s latest is about a man (Lee Byung Hun) who is suddenly given the axe from the job he’s worked at for 25 years. Desperate for a new gig, and amid stiff competition, he hatches an elaborate plan that involves bumping off potential candidates. The film is based on Donald E. Westlake’s The Ax and features Toronto fave Don McKellar as one of the screenplay co-writers.
Bonus Picks: Three Films Based on Writers
The Captive
Storyteller Miguel de Cervantes is known for his masterpiece Don Quixote. In his newest film, director Alejandro Amenabar takes viewers on a retelling of events the writer may have experienced as a soldier in Algiers in 1575.
Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5
Raoul Peck tackles George Orwell’s writing in the documentary Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5. Utilizing Damien Lewis to embody the voice of Orwell and film footage from adaptations of 1984, Animal Farm, as well as contemporary news viz, Peck shows a world of rising totalitarianism, surveillance and government violence described by Orwell’s works in our present.
Franz
Franz Kafka’s life serves as the basis for Green Border director Agnieszka Holland’s portrait of the author, with newcomer Iden Weiss as the writer in his first major role.
TIFF runs September 4 through 14, 2025. Follow along for all our coverage from the festival HERE.
