About Us

Director / Editor / Producer

Victor Oly is a Toronto-based, award-nominated director and editor whose work spans narrative shorts, music videos, and commercials. Most recently, he directed a film funded through the launch of the new streaming platform, Shibuya Films.

His debut short, Pink Rabbit (2020), screened at the Academy Award-qualifying BIFAN in South Korea. His second short film, The Whipping Boy (2023)—a twisted, fantastical period piece—premiered at the Canadian Film Fest in 2024.

Victor is a graduate of Ryerson University’s Radio & Television Arts program, and has furthered his training through production studies at UCLA and the ASC Masterclass in Los Angeles. He continues to refine his visual storytelling through ongoing creative projects and by asking himself one guiding question: “Would this make a good scene for a movie?”

Producer / Actor

Jack Copland is an actor, writer, and producer based in Toronto. Originally from Kelowna and raised in Mississauga, he graduated with an Honours Business Administration degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business and trained at the George Brown Theatre School. His acting credits include network television ("Murdoch Mysteries"), animation ("Total Drama Island"), and internationally screened independent films. In addition to acting, Jack has produced a range of projects, including international short films. He is also the co-founder of Forefront Talent, an agency that connects background performers with major film and TV productions across southern Ontario. Outside of his professional work, Jack volunteers with Sprint Senior Care in Toronto.

Cinematographer

Tobias Scavenius is an award winning cinematographer from Copenhagen, Denmark, educated from the ASC Master Classes in Los Angeles and with a master in Film and Philosophy from the University of Copenhagen. His works have been screened across the world, most notably, in the Palme d’Or nominated category at Cannes Film Festival in 2021 for his surreal and dark visuals, in the short film, In The Soil.

Producer

Mumbai-born and Toronto-based Natasha Advani Thangkhiew (she/her) is a people-first producer and forward-thinking creative leader focused on championing storytellers and their untold stories. She has consistently demonstrated the ability to turn concepts into funded realities, having negotiated and acquired nearly CAD 100,000 worth of in-kind and monetary support for her projects. By harmonizing her experience in event management and mental health support, she offers a balanced approach to every project. In 2024, Natasha is integrating eco-conscious practices and applying insights from competitive professional development opportunities, such as CMF-Ontario Creates IDM Futures Forward Program 2023, and WIFT's Media Business Essentials Program 2024, to refine GRIN's development and growth strategy.

Writer

Starting his writing career at the age of 6 with the epic tale of “This is Me and My Friends Playing With Rocks,” Ben Milligan has been trying to once again strike literary gold ever since. With experiences in various types of content such as film, scripted & unscripted TV, advertising, and a documentary, he is always looking for opportunities to grow and is comfortable with anything thrown at him. He’s got a penchant for writing good characters, and being one as well. In a couple short years he has managed to win a few Tellies, some GIFA awards, and recently had his short film nominated for awards at the BIFAN.

Composer

Sam Pomanti is a keyboardist, composer, and producer from Toronto, Canada. With piano as his main instrument, it was the scores of Koji Kondo and John Williams that first got him into music. Since then, he has garnered experience from a wide range of activities including performing as a touring musician around North America, Europe, and Japan with artists such as BANKS, Bazzi, Koshi Inaba, B’z, Scott Helman, Kim Mitchell, Ed Sheeran, and Mr. Mister, writing and producing several albums for artist projects, and composing musical scores. He collaborates regularly with musicians and artists from Los Angeles to London to Tokyo, writing and contributing keyboards on several releases.

Sam’s studies have veered increasingly toward the orchestral idiom, which he has applied to the scoring projects he has undertaken in recent years, including CBC’s Nature of Things documentary “Nature’s Big Year”, which won the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Science, Nature & Technology Documentary, “Pink Rabbit” by GRIN, music videos by Toronto artists, and his personal compositions. Sam has also participated in several mentorship programs run by the Screen Composer’s Guild of Canada under renowned Canadian screen composers and orchestrators Amin Bhatia and John Herberman.