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Director Will Niava joins Denim
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The Ivorian-Ghanaian filmmaker brings a cinematic voice shaped by emotional precision, and cultural fluidity across film and commercial work.
Denim has announced the signing of director Will Niava for Canadian representation.
The filmmaker has built a distinctive body of work that moves between narrative cinema, music culture and commercial storytelling, always anchored in atmosphere, feeling and visual intensity.
A graduate of Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Niava has steadily emerged as one of the most exciting voices to come out of Montreal’s filmmaking scene. His short film ZOO travelled widely and later landed on the Criterion Channel. Most recently, his latest short, Jazz Infernal, screened at TIFF before winning the Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
Alongside his narrative work, Niava has also directed commercial and branded projects for NBA, Amazon, Apple Music and Orange, with collaborations connected to artists including Billie Eilish and H.E.R. That blend of auteur sensibility and cultural fluency is what gives his work its particular charge, visually bold, emotionally attuned and unmistakably contemporary.
His signing reflects Denim’s continued focus on directors with a clear point of view and a deep respect for craft. Since its official launch in 2024, the company has positioned itself as a creative production home built around collaboration, process and original storytelling across the Canadian market.
“Will has a rare kind of directorial voice. His work feels cinematic and visceral, but never at the expense of emotional clarity. There’s real depth in the way he builds images and tension, and we’re incredibly excited to welcome him to Denim and support this next chapter of his career,” said the Denim Team.
Niava said, “Joining Denim felt like a natural step for me. It’s a team that genuinely values directors’ voices, craft and creative ambition. I’m drawn to collaborators who understand both the emotional language of cinema and the demands of commercial storytelling, and I’m excited to start building with them.”
With Will Niava joining the roster, Denim welcomes a filmmaker whose profile is growing internationally while remaining grounded in a deeply personal creative language. Following a major Sundance win, he arrives as a director with momentum, authorship and a body of work that already bridges cultural relevance and cinematic impact.
