Brent Belke

Composer Brent Belke has a unique background. As a co-founder of the catalystic skate-punk band SNFU, Belke played on the 1985 debut ...And No One Else Wanted to Play (winner of the 2022 Polaris Heritage Prize), plus 5 more albums released on BYO Records and Epitaph.

In 1998, Brent turned attention to jazz and classical studies and began a career in film and television scoring. Brent draws his inspiration from a passion to challenge, and works in a wide range of music styles, combining raw sound elements, electronics and traditional acoustic instruments. This eclecticism is clearly heard in the string quartet, Asian percussion and electronic textures of The Hunters, in the solo guitar scoring of Drive, She Said, and in the radio dial variety of You Me Her (nominated for 2 Leo Awards). Brent covers a wide musical landscape with a keen sense of harmony and melody.

Brent has a long history of working with director Mina Shum on theatrical features, including the NFB documentary Ninth Floor that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2015. His most recent film, Ann Marie Fleming’s Can I Get a Witness? premiered at TIFF 2024 and earned Brent a Leo Award win for “Best Musical Score, Motion Picture”.