Mintslate Media Debuts 3 Stories

By Salami Adeyinka

Mintslate Media is entering the film industry with intention and clarity, introducing itself through stories shaped directly by lived experience. Founded in February 2025 by filmmaker Seyi Oluwatimilehin, the production company was created to tell stories that feel real, familiar, and deeply human, resisting emotional distance in favour of honesty and recognition.

Its debut slate includes three films, Job Seekers, No One Wants Me, and Her Skin, Her Sin. Together, these projects establish Mintslate Media as a company grounded in emotional truth rather than spectacle, prioritising intimacy, vulnerability, and realism over polished comfort.

“One of the reasons I founded Mintslate Media was to tell stories that are real, stories that are relatable, honest, and true to our time and existence,” Oluwatimilehin says. “Every one of these films carries a piece of my story, from feeling unwanted, to living through and understanding racism, to the quiet horrors of job seeking.”

That personal connection shapes the foundation of the company’s work. Each film centres moments many people recognise but rarely see portrayed with sustained honesty, exploring survival, abandonment, and the unspoken rules governing race, power, and belonging.

“These films are deeply rooted in real experiences,” Oluwatimilehin adds. “This, to me, is one of the things I feel is lacking in the Canadian film industry, a genuine human connection and a sense of relatability that allows audiences to truly see themselves on screen.”

Job Seekers, a psychological horror directed by Oluwatimilehin alongside Alan Vega, follows Maya, a young immigrant played by Mauranda Nunes, whose job interview becomes a test of survival and compliance. Marcel Albers stars as Dr Wendi, a figure whose calm exterior conceals unsettling intent.

“Audiences should expect me to portray my character with the psychotic tendencies that he has,” Albers says. “And to display his lack of caring for other people.”

In No One Wants Me, written and directed by Oluwatimilehin, sixteen-year-old Daniel, played by Kale Louie, arrives at a stranger’s apartment under false pretences. Hannah Klamann stars as Emily, as a brief encounter unfolds into a raw examination of abandonment and inherited trauma.

“I think Daniel starts off with a terrible childhood,” Louie says. “He basically thinks everything bad that’s happened to him is his fault.”

Directed by Izaiah Dockery and Jason Manzi, Her Skin, Her Sin centres on Priya, played by Sableena Gill, navigating a domestic space shaped by tradition, power, and conditional acceptance, exposing how racism and control operate beneath civility.

“My perspective was to create a story that is relevant and yet rarely represented on Canadian screens,” Manzi says. “A story that most racialized people face when trying to face the world with love but are still judged and looked down upon because of factors beyond their control.”

Mintslate Media was founded alongside close collaborators including executive producer Reke Avikpe, art director Jaeden Royer Alexander, Jason Manzi, and Leeindo Kelly, forming a creative environment rooted in trust and shared understanding.

“Mintslate Media exists to help bridge that gap,” Oluwatimilehin says. “Through these films, we aim to create work that feels lived in, intimate, and unmistakably human.”

With its debut slate, Mintslate Media is not simply releasing films, but introducing a voice shaped by truth, care, and the courage to tell stories as they are lived.