The Hire Higher Grant endeavours to provide access, opportunity, and support to creatives from underrepresented communities looking to break into the industry and further develop their body of narrative, music video, experimental, or commercial work. The grant provides recipients $5,000 each, in addition to full production, equipment, wardrobe, and post support, as well as mentorship from the Hire Higher Collective - all the resources needed to complete a polished project (see below for more information on what the grant entails).

Once again, we had a powerful set of applications during this iteration of the grant. The finalists were announced over social media in late March. We want to extend our gratitude to all of the filmmakers who applied and poured their creativity and passion into their projects.

And a big thank you to the Selection Committee, an amazing group of professionals from various facets of production (showrunners, executive producers, directors, cinematographers, etc.), who were integral to the process and provided invaluable support.

Round 2: The 2024 Hire Higher Grant

We are so excited to announce the 2024 Hire Higher Grant finalists!

The Hire Higher Grant Finalists

A huge congratulations to the three finalists: Yvette Sin, Anubhav Singh and Onyeka Oduh! We are itching to see what they put together and will keep the community updated with any exciting news about their projects.

Yvette Sin

Yvette Sin is an emerging writer/director based in Tkaronto with a soft spot for diasporic Asian stories, community practice, and genre-bending filmmaking. She is a 2023-2024 member of The Asian Canadian Living Archive (TACLA) Youth Critics Initiative in partnership with the Reel Asian Film Festival, and the former recipient of the 2023 Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) Film Fund. She has worked as an Associate Producer for the CBC, but currently spends her days at a bookstore in the West End, reading queer horror and scheming up her next project.

Anubhav Singh

With a foundation in fine art as well as film directing, Anubhav thrives on understanding of both artistic and technical aspects of filmmaking. He aims to tell stories that are diverse in nature but possess a common, relatable emotional ground with emphasis on empathy.

His directorial works include short film “Ma’s Button Box” which won the audience choice award for best short film at South Asian Film Festival Of America.

His recent film “It Happens To Us” explores the failings of Canadian Welfare checks and issues of police violence that comes from it.

He also directed a CBC Gem series “Get Up Aisha” which is set to release this year.

Anubhav continues to uncover the most urgent stories and tell them with a much needed compassion through the art of cinema.

Onyeka Oduh

Onyeka Oduh is an award-winning Black, Trans-Queer neurodiverse writer/director based in Toronto who enjoys writing campy and kitschy stories that put BIPOC, queer, and trans characters at the forefront.

They have had films premiere at festivals in Canada and Europe, including Blood In The Snow Film Festival, Toronto Queer Film Festival, TIFF Next Wave Film Festival. Their film "Video Vengeance" won best Horror Short at the Toronto International Shorts Film Festival. In 2020, Onyeka co-founded The Kitsch Generation, a trans-led film and media production company that prioritizes authentic trans, queer, and BIPOC representation in front of and behind the camera. Onyeka is currently a fellow in the Spindle Films Foundations Filmmakers Fellowship.

The Hire Higher Grant recipients will recieve the following support:

Merchant will be the lead production company supporting the needs of each recipient throughout the duration of a project. Merchant commits to engaging in supportive and healthy dialogue, mentorship, and collaboration to ensure the successful completion of each project. Support may include:

Producing a project from start to finish.
Providing logistical support (office space to work, production insurance, etc.)
Facilitating connections for pre-production, shoot, and post-production

Production Support

Georgia Groom from Inclusive Stylist Toronto will be available for at least 3 consultations with each project’s stylist throughout the shoot, and offer practical support for them to complete your project.

If a particular grant doesn’t have a stylist they work with, IST can help facilitate introductions to stylists from the IST community, and offer those stylists support with your project.

Styling/Wardrobe

Post Services

ARTJAIL will provide post finishing services for each project in the form of the online and conform of the final edit, along with a finishing colour session. Should further post support be required, Art Jail and Hire Higher can consult and figure out further pathways for finishing each project.

Equipment

Hire Higher has partnered with Panavision and WFW, to provide in-kind donations for equipment on each selected project.

Panavision will provide:

Alexa Mini camera package along with basic accessories
One set of Primo lenses
Consultation on the package to ensure it fits the needs of each project

WFW will provide:

$5,000 in-kind donation for grip and lighting equipment.

Consultation on the package to ensure it fits the needs of each project

Hire Higher Support

Members of the Hire Higher Collective will be available to each grant recipient for support and mentorship throughout each project. Whether it is technical or creative advice, providing connections to talent and crew, or insights about working in the production industry, HH will share its resources and access to the production industry to facilitate connection, growth, and the development of each recipient.