About Us

GRIN is an entertainment collective from Toronto, Canada, whose mission is to create surreal and thought-provoking films of all genres. GRIN was formed when Victor and Ben met in gym class on the first day of Grade 9. They liked watching movies together and said, “Hey, we should make one.”  Without any knowledge of how to do that, they kept trying until they made something that resembled a film… barely. Now, 14 years later, Victor and Ben have completed 3 short films, and the team GRIN has grown creatively and in numbers. In 2018, Tobias Scavenius, a cinematographer from Copenhagen, Denmark, joined the collective after Victor and Tobias met at the ASC Masterclass in LA. In 2019, Sam Pomanti, a musician from Toronto, Canada, came on as the composer for GRIN’s films. Their first short, Pink Rabbit, was recognized and nominated at the Academy Award qualifying festival - BIFAN. Fast forward to 2022. Natasha Advani Thangkhiew, their producer, joined the team, bringing a broad scope of knowledge and insight as a new immigrant to Canada from India. Together, they made two shorts, The Whipping Boy and Coloured Emotions, which are in the festival circuit in 2024. GRIN is developing 2 features and 2 shorts, including Living With Ron, a dark comedy about coping with cancer.

Meet the Team

  • Victor Oly

    Director / Editor / Producer

    Victor Oly is an award nominated director and editor from Toronto, Canada. A graduate of Ryerson's Radio & Television Arts program, Victor has also studied production at UCLA and attended the ASC Masterclass in Los Angeles. Victor’s directorial debut short, Pink Rabbit (2021), premiered at the academy award qualifying, BIFAN 2021 in South Korea. His second short, The Whipping Boy (2023), an ambitious and fantastical period piece, with twisted comedic elements, is in post-production and set to see the festival circuit later this year. Victor continues to refine his craft through directing music videos, commercials and asking himself at all times of the day - “would this make a good scene for a movie?”.

  • Ben Milligan

    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.

  • Natasha Advani Thangkhiew

    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.

  • Jack Copland

    Producer / Actor

    Jack is an actor, writer, and producer located in Toronto. Born in Kelowna and raised in Mississauga, he graduated with an Honours Business Administration degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business before studying acting at the George Brown Theatre School. His list of acting credits includes principal voice over (Total Drama Island), repertory theatre (Theatre on the Ridge), and internationally screened independent films (Pink Rabbit). In his free time, Jack volunteers with Sprint Senior Care in Toronto.

  • Tobias Scavenius

    Cinematographer

    Tobias Scavenius is an award winning cinematographer from Copenhagen, Denmark. 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.

  • Sam Pomanti

    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.