Toby Jones, Indira Varma, and Toheeb Jimoh Join the Cast of Short Films for the International Booker Prize
The lineup of actors starring in the short films promoting this year’s International Booker Prize has been announced.
Among the featured talent are Kae Alexander (Fleabag), Toheeb Jimoh (Industry), Toby Jones (Alan Bates vs the Post Office), Xelia Mendes-Jones (The Wheel of Time), Indira Varma (Game of Thrones), and musician Jehnny Beth (Anatomy of a Fall). These films will highlight the six books shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, recognized as the leading award for translated fiction worldwide.
The films will debut on Thursday, April 16, and will be showcased at a 10th anniversary celebration for the International Booker Prize at the Southbank Centre on May 8. The event will feature performances from Dua Lipa, along with appearances by 2021-winning author David Diop and 2025-winning translator Deepa Bhasthi.
Directed by choreographer Holly Blakey and accompanied by original music from Gwilym Gold, the films were shot in the architecturally striking environments of the Southbank Centre, a prominent cultural venue in central London.
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“I wanted to place the actors in the often unseen corners of the Southbank Centre, my performance home, where so much unfolds quietly, without an audience, I guess akin to reading… still but somehow also stirring,” Blakey reflected.
In the films, Jimoh will present a reading from Shihad Bazyar’s ‘The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran,’ while Beth will participate in Rene Karabash’s ‘She Who Remains.’ Varma will read from Marie NDiaye’s ‘The Witch,’ Alexander from Yáng Shuāng-zi’s ‘Taiwan Travelogue,’ and Jones from ‘The Director’ by Daniel Kehlman. Mendes-Jones will round out the lineup with a reading from ‘On Earth As It Is Beneath’ by Ana Paula Maia.
The winner of the International Booker Prize for 2026 will be revealed on May 19 at Tate Modern in London.
The Booker Prize Foundation began commissioning short films to accompany both the Booker Prize and the International Booker Prize in 2022. The films created for the 2025 Booker Prize, directed by Sasha Nathwani, received over 100 million views.
