This selection of Shane Belcourt's independent short films includes the world premiere of a new film and his personal portraits of Aboriginal leaders as well as his short films:

Pookums (2006, 11 min): A woman takes an easy job house sitting, taking care of a beloved dog, Pookums, what could possibly go wrong?

The Squeeze Box (2005, 12 min): A hitman hires a mute accordian player to be his real-life soundtrack.

Solo Bass (2007, 15 min): An independent musician grapples with the reason to create avant-garde solo bass music. I mean, when's the last time you didn't talk through the bass solo at a jazz concert?

ABOUT SHANE BELCOURT

Shane Belcourt (Métis) is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and musician based in Toronto. His feature film, Tkaronto (named after the original Mohawk word for Toronto), has played many international film festivals, most recently winning the "Best Director" prize at the 2008 Dreamspeakers Film Festival and at the 2008 Talking Stick Film Festival. A rare feat for a first feature film by an independent filmmaker, Tkaronto acquired an international distributor which released the film across Canada during the fall of 2008. Belcourt was also the recipient of the 2007 IFC Mentorship Award and one of 22 filmmakers chosen for the 2007 TIFF Talent Lab. Most recently, Belcourt co-wrote and directed Boxed In, a short film produced by the NFB that will be included in the Canadian Pavilion at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Currently, Belcourt is working as the writer-director for two animation projects, a half-hour animation on problem gambling in Aboriginal communities and a personal short animated documentary, Red Car, Blue Hood, about growing up the son of a Métis Rights Leader, Tony Belcourt. Shane has recently been selected to Telefilm's Feature Aboriginal Storytellers Program to further develop his next dramatic feature film, Better Place.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT