Quick Words:
Shane's debut feature film Tkaronto was the closing night screening at the 2007 ImagineNATIVE film festival. He was a 2007 Toronto International Film Festival Talent Lab Participant. He is the 2007 IFC Mentorship Award winner with Rachel Fulford. He is currently shooting documentaries with the NFB and writing feature films with Duane Murray. Check back for developments.
Tkaronto review in Toronto's EYE Weekly - October 18th, 2007
"Like so many people of Aboriginal heritage in Canada, the lead characters in Tkaronto – a local feature that makes its world premiere at imagineNATIVE this weekend – feel torn between two cultures and at home in neither one. An artist struggling to find a way to connect with her Ojibway roots, Jolene (Melanie McLaren) feels she's reached that difficult juncture when “we stop pointing to our parents and saying, ‘Hey, they're Aboriginal,' and start asking, ‘How am I Aboriginal?'”
It's a question that crops up in many works at imagineNATIVE, Toronto's annual festival of film and media works by indigenous people. Tkaronto (***; Oct. 21, 6:30pm, Royal, 608 College) handles it with an unusual amount of poise and insight. The quality of writer-director Shane Belcourt's feature debut – named after our city's original Mohawk name – is all the more remarkable when you consider that it was made in six months on a measly budget.
Based on Belcourt's experience as the son of a Metis father, the movie portrays the crises of Jolene and Ray (Duane Murray), two thirtysomethings who can't figure out a way to square up their urban lifestyles and material ambitions with what an elder (played by Lorne Cardinal) calls “blood memory.” But for all of Tkaronto's heavy themes, the film has a sense of lightness that makes it one of the year's most appealing local indie features."
|
 |
Clips to Watch:
(This is just a selection of some highlights - for more on The Breath Films, choose the link above)
The Squeeze Box
This short film is about a hitman that hires an accordion player to be his real-life soundtrack. It was written and directed by Shane Belcourt and Duane Murray. It premiered at the 2005 ImagiNATIVE Film Festival.
Watch the trailer here >>>
Pass the Ball
The idea was to create an opportunity for filmmakers to jam out a short film together - just go-go-go with the camera working together without any constraints. If musicians can get together and jam, why not filmmakers? Round One was completed in the Spring of 2006. Round Two will be in production in the summer of 2006.
Watch the segments from Round One >>>
Hardache
Ravi Kajuria had an idea for a short film and he brought it to Shane to work the idea together. In the winter of 2004 Shane and Ravi shot, edited, and directed this short film.
Watch the short film here >>>
|
