Like an office pool winning the lottery, the Calgary-based North Country Cinema collective has seen one of its collaborations, Kyle Thomas’ Not Far From The Abattoir, become an official 2012 SXSW Film Festival selection.

The short film portrays a man controlling his demons and imagining a better life outside of the only town he’s ever known in rural Alberta.

Cameron Macgowan produced Not Far From the Abattoir, which was written and directed by Thomas (pictured).

In turn, Thomas recently produced and did the music for a western film directed by Macgowan, Black Hills, which is set in Alberta’s Badlands.

In all, five Canadian films were selected to screen at the SXSW film festival, which is set to run from March 9 to 18 in Austin, Texas.

Adam Garnet Jones’ short film Liar, about a brutal teenage revenge plot, will receive its world premiere at the U.S. festival.

Also Austin-bound is the writer/director Trevor Anderson’s short musical documentary The Man That Got Away, which just bowed in Berlin.

On the feature film side, SXSW progammers have booked slots for Indie Game: The Movie, which is making a stop in Austin after a successful launch at Sundance, and Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar, which continues to garner attention and awards on the festival circuit on its way to the Academy Awards.