Tkaronto (the original Mohawk word for Toronto) is a reflective dramatic film about the struggle to stake claim to one’s urban aboriginal identity.  It is the debut feature film by Métis writer-director Shane Belcourt, which has been chosen as the Closing Night film for the 2007 imagineNATIVE Film Festival (World Premiere October 21st, 2007).

Tkaronto not only marks the debut feature film in Shane’s career, it is also a first exploration of Shane’s Aboriginal heritage in a narrative work. His father, Tony Belcourt, has been an Aboriginal Rights leader for Shane’s entire life, and as such Shane has grown up in and around Aboriginal politics and cultural activities. His mother was a singer and actress in her early years and as such she raised a household of artists: Christi Belcourt is a renowned Aboriginal fine artist, and Suzanne Belcourt is an award-winning graphic designer. The issues, ideas and concerns Tkaronto raises are life-long lessons that have only now found expression in this feature film.

Shane Belcourt is a York University Film Production dropout turned good (not that dropping out was bad). After completing three years of film school, Shane left to pursue his music career, which saw many Aboriginal Music Award nominations and a Juno Award nomination for his work as a music producer. The strength of his work in music has been a focus on bringing the stories out from within the songs. As such, moving back into film was a natural return. 

In the last five years Shane has shot and produced thousands of hours of documentary footage on Métis/Aboriginal issues for organizations, the web, APTN and most recently Global TV for the 2007 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards. Shane has also written and directed numerous short films in this time, most notably Pookums, which was chosen to screen in the “Best of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival 2007 Tour”. The last two short films, Pookums and The Squeeze Box, have been sold to a distributor and are now in final discussions for sale and screening on APTN, the Comedy Network and Movieola. It was also at the 2006 imagineNATIVE festival that Shane and his co-writing partner, Duane Murray, received an honorable mention for their pitch of Embracing Mason, a TV series that has been well-received by national networks. Shane and Duane are involved in ongoing discussions to bring this show to air.

Most recently, Shane has been selected as one of 22 emerging filmmakers to participate in the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival Talent Lab. Shane was also chosen as the 2007/08 IFC Mentorship Award Winner at the 2007 ImagineNATIVE Film Festival.