Mae Martin and Ryan Scott’s Wayward will world premiere in the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) series-focused Primetime programme ahead of its Netflix debut.

The eight-episode limited series thriller (pictured) is produced by Sphere Media and created by Canadian comedian and actor Martin, who co-showruns the series with Scott. Renuka Jeyapalan, John Fawcett and Euros Lyn are the series’ directors.

Wayward is set in a small town named Tall Pines and explores the dark underbelly of a local school for troubled teens. The cast includes Canadian actors Martin, Sarah Gadon (Dracula Untold), Joshua Close (A Breed Apart), Patrick J. Adams (Plan B), Brandon Jay McLaren (The Rookie), Tattiawna Jones (Murderbot) and Sydney Topliffe (Ominous) alongside Australian actor Toni Collette (Hereditary).

The series is executive produced by Martin, Scott and Lyn along with Sphere Media’s Jennifer Kawaja and Bruno Dubé and Objective Fiction’s Ben Farrell and Hannah Mackay. It debuts on Netflix on Sept. 25.

TIFF’s Primetime programme, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, includes the North American premiere of the Robert Lantos-produced Hungary/Austria/Germany copro Rise of the Raven following its debut at MIPCOM in Cannes.

The 10-part series is produced by Robert and Ari Lantos of Toronto-based Serendipity Point Films, Cecilia Hazai of Twin Media, Tibor Krskó of Hungary’s HG Media, MR Film and Germany’s Beta Film. It is coproduced by Hungary’s TV2 Network and Austrian public broadcaster ORF. Beta Film is the international distributor.

Rise of the Raven is based on Mór Bán’s Hungarian novel series Hunyadi and follows the 15th century Hungarian historical figure János Hunyadi. It is directed by Robert Dornhelm, Atilla Szász, Orsi Nagypál and Balazs Lengyel.

Primetime’s lead programmer is Geoff Macnaughton.

TIFF also unveiled the selections for its 2025 Short Cuts programme with 17 Canadian shorts making their world premieres in a roster of 48 short films across 28 countries.

The lineup’s world premieres include writer-director Will Niava‘s Jazz Infernal, produced by Zion Lipstein-Saffer and Samuel Caron. The film tells the story of a young Montreal trumpeter from Cote d’Ivoire who bears the weight of his father’s musical legacy.

Another selection is Tyler Mckenzie Evans’ Sea Star. The film, which was the winner of the Canada Council for the Arts’ 2023 Concept to Realization grant, is produced by Malachi Ellis and Claire Desmarais. Sea Star follows an elderly Black man who takes part in his first swimming lesson while battling his own hardships beneath the surface.

Kalainithan Kalaichelvan’s Canadian Film Centre production Karupy is scored by Playback‘s 2024 10 to Watch selection Kalaisan Kalaichelvan and produced by Alison Almeida and Shaista Roshan. It tells the story a Tamil matriarch who shocks her family on her 65th birthday with a plan to end her life.

Ripe comes from Vancouver-based writer and director Solara Thanh Bình Đặng. The Canada/Vietnam co-venture is produced by Nic Altobelli of Naltobel Productions with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, and in participation with Vietnam prodco Spring Auteurs. It follows a young woman who must decide whether she will proceed with an arranged marriage to help her family.

Hannah Cheesman’s Marriaginalia is another that will make its world premiere in Short Cuts. The film, produced by Cheesman and Jacqueline De Niverville, depicts a surreal portrait of a married couple’s day across three parts.

What We Leave Behind, from writers, directors and producers Jean-Sébastien Hamel and Alexandra Myotte, will make its North American premiere at TIFF along with the National Film Board of Canada’s (NFB) The Girl Who Cried Pearls. The former is debuting at Switzerland’s Locarno International Film Festival this month while the latter, from the Montreal duo of Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, premiered at France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June.

The Girl Who Cried Pearls is produced for the NFB by Julie Roy, Marc Bertrand and Christine Noël.

Other world premiering Canadian shorts at TIFF include Yassmina Karajah’s Canada/Jordan copro Ambush, Rich Williamson’s Bots, Salar Pashtoonyar’s I Fear Blue Skies, Kelly Fyffe-Marshall’s Demons, Harrison Browne’s Pink Light, India Opzoomer’s Poster Boy and Heather Young’s A Soft Touch.

Dana Solomon’s Niimi, Gavin Baird’s Klee, Giran Findlay-Liu’s Year of the Dragon, Chelsea McMullan’s Healer and Shervin Kermani’s Spain/Canada/Mexico copro Ramón Who Speaks to Ghosts round out the world premiering shorts.

Sonja Baksa and Mariam Zaidi are the international programmers for Short Cuts. Jason Anderson serves as an advisor.

TIFF runs from Sept. 4 to 14.

Image courtesy of Netflix