The NFB has optioned the film rights to the Margaret Atwood book Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, handing the adaptation of the nonfiction book to Jennifer Baichwal and producer Ravida Din.

‘The writing in Payback is so rich and acute that the ideas literally jumped off the page when I read it. It was brimming with cinematic possibilities,’ said Baichwal, whose most recent think piece, Act of God, opens the Hot Docs festival this week in Toronto.

Din (Family Motel) praised Atwood’s book — which is about the concept of debt in religion, literature and society — as ‘brilliant.’

‘It made complete sense to me that the NFB should produce this documentary,’ said Din. The film, which is in development, marks the first direct team up by the author and the NFB.