The County Adaptation Film Festival (CAFF) is excited to announce the full programming lineup of its second edition with six feature films and two special conversations from September 26 – 28, 2025.
“The County Adaptation Film Festival is a natural extension of the year-round programming at our historic theatre,” said John Galway, Executive Director of the Regent Theatre. “This year, we are thrilled to be welcoming some of Canada’s most celebrated filmmakers and authors to share their stories with our film loving audience.”
The festival opens with Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck, based on the Stephen King novella starring Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Jacob Tremblay and Mark Hamill. Winner of the TIFF People’s Choice Award, the film is an unforgettable, genre-bending tale that celebrates the life of Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz as he experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.
After the film, the conversation continues with a Lobby and Laneway Party as the festival spills out into the new public space beside the theatre.
Day Two (September 27) focuses on some of Canada’s most celebrated writers and filmmakers as they discuss the art of adaptation.
The day opens at noon with a special conversation with international best-selling and award-winning novelist, screenwriter and playwright Emma Donoghue. Winner of the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Donoghue has also been shortlisted for the Man Booker, Orange and the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and was nominated for the Oscar for her adaptation of her own novel Room. Emma discusses her work adapting for the screen (Room, The Wonder, H is for Hawk) and her latest novel The Paris Express.
The afternoon continues with a new adaption of the Françoise Sagan’s novel Bonjour Tristesse starring Lily McInerny, Claes Bang and Chloë Sevigny. An impressive debut feature, the film marks filmmaker Durga Chew-Bose as a talent to watch. Previously adapted by Otto Preminger in 1958, Chew-Bose’s film is a modern take on the novel that evokes the feel of a timeless classic.
The day closes with Oscar winner Sarah Polley who joins us to reflect on her career and the film that first garnered her Oscar attention – Away From Her. Based on Alice Munro’s short story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”, the film was nominated for two Oscars including Best Adapted Screenplay. After her directorial debut Sarah went on to craft her documentary film, Stories We Tell and write the miniseries Alias Grace, based on the novel by Margaret Atwood. In 2022, she wrote and directed Women Talking, based on the novel by Miriam Toews, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
The final day (September 28th) of the festival takes an interesting meta look at adaptation with three unique films.
In his Zodiac Killer Project filmmaker Charlie Shackleton tells the story of his abandoned documentary about the infamous Zodiac Killer, describing beat-by-beat how he imagined it playing out. In this wholly original, self-aware cinematic work and winner of the NEXT Innovator Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Shackleton puts the true crime genre under the microscope as he conjures up his imagined adaptation in real time, offering an object lesson in creative frustration—and a hilarious critique of a genre at saturation point.
Paying for It is a live-action adaptation of acclaimed best-selling graphic novel by the same name. Filmmaker, musician, actor and broadcaster, Sook-Yin Lee and graphic novelist Chester Brown join CAFF to discuss adapting the novel which tells the tale of their complex real-life relationship in late 90s Toronto. Paying for It is an intelligent and affecting work about love, sex and non-monogamy for adults.
The festival closes with Steal Away the fictional adaptation of Karolyn Smardz Frost’s work of narrative non-fiction. Fresh from a world-premiere at TIFF, director Clement Virgo (The Book of Negroes, Brother) returns with a bold and mesmerizing thriller that’s part fairy tale, part fever dream. Virgo’s sixth feature quickly leaves the realm of fairy tales and takes us into challenging and shadowy spaces. Screenwriter Tamara Faith Berger and Producer Damon D’Oliveira join CAFF to discuss this bold translation of history into fiction.
“CAFF is a reflection of the PEC community and how we come together to create special things,” said Sol Korngold, festival co-founder. “I want to thank all our sponsors, supporters and volunteers for helping us mount this festival. CAFF has, in very short order, become a true expression of our collective commitment to growing and expanding the tapestry of arts in our community. I couldn’t be more proud”.
The full schedule can be found on CAFF’s website – www.countyadaptationfilmfest.ca. Festival passes ($75) are now available. Single tickets will go on sale September 2, 2025.
(PAUL MARTIN)
