Eastern Ontario Star Wars fan captures Steven Spielberg's attention
It cost 21-year-old Ontario East filmmaker Kyle Parish just $300 to capture the attention of world famous Star Wars director Steven Spielberg.
Using his computer to create special effects and enlisting the help of friends around his home county of Elgin, the Star Wars fanatic spent just $300 to make a Star Wars fan film that he entered into the 2010 Star Wars Fan Film contest run by LucasArts.
The film, entitled Origins II: The Rising, won awards for its visual effects and soundtrack and captured the attention of Spielberg who made a personal phone call to Parish.
"The exact words would be 'Never let anyone change what you're doing, do it your way, and stay creative because that's what Hollywood needs'," Parish told Global Television.
Parish wasn't the only one praised by the famous Star Wars director. Parish's friend Sarah Long, an actress in Origins II received a letter from Spielberg saying that she is "something special" and that she is one of the most talented actresses he's seen in a long time. Star Wars producer George Lucas also wrote Long to praise her, Global reported.
It's not the first attention Parish Productions has received. It won awards earlier this year from the University of Toronto Student Film Festival and, in September, it was nominated for best feature at the Philadelphia Film & Animation Festival. Long and fellow Origins II actor Matthew Schliesmann have also won acting awards.
Origins II, which is 52 minutes long, is set some 100,000 years before the stories of the LucasArts Star Wars films and before people travelled across galaxies. It describes how the Force became split between Dark and Light.
Parish, who started filmmaking while recovering from an athletic injury, is excited about where his new celebrity status and his passion for filmmaking and Star Wars may take him.
"Who knows what doors have opened because of this," Parish told Global.
He is now working on his third Star Wars fan film, Origins III: Destiny.
Peterborough marks redefining of local economy by staging airport reopening
Peterborough's municipal airport recently reopened as part of move to redefine the local economy into one that combines the aerospace and aviation industries.
The grand re-opening of the Peterborough Municipal Airport marks the beginning of the next steps in co-developing these two industries, which will help redefine the economy in the Peterborough region.
Earlier this month, the Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corporation invited businesses involved or with an interest in the local aerospace and aviation industries to an investment attraction meeting. The gathering provided information and knowledge to assist the GPA EDC in facilitating future growth and job creation in the sector through the creation of coordinated messaging and industry-driven development.
Topics discussed included the current state of the global and local industry, local successes and opportunities and how to build on them, steps to be taken to create a local marketing plan, and how to grow large-scale aerospace and aviation industries in Peterborough for new investment attraction and job creation.
Provincial government grant helps Eastern Ontario firm grow and add jobs
Kingston's ESG Solutions plans to expand its services and create 12 new high-value jobs after receiving more than $580,000 from the Ontario Government.
The money, which comes from the Eastern Ontario Development Fund, will help ESG to protect the 67 skilled workers it employs.
Ken Arnold, president of ESG Solutions, says the money will enable his company to hire the people it needs a full year ahead of schedule.
"By expanding our workforce, we are able to develop our operational and logistical capacity, meet growing demand for our products and services and, ultimately, better serve our global clients," Arnold says.
A world-leading manufacturer of high-tech equipment used to detect and analyze very small earth tremors, ESG is using the money to invest in new sensors to monitor and analyze micro-earthquakes and train staff with technical and safety standards.
A total of 12 Kingston businesses have won EODF grants, which have helped to create more than 170 jobs and protect an additional 550 jobs in Kingston.
Kingston engineering firm expands with help from provincial funding
Kingston's Transformix Engineering has won a more than $177,600 grant from the Ontario Government to help it add another 20 full-time jobs to its 80-person workforce.
The money, which was received through the Eastern Ontario Economic Development Fund, will go toward a $1.8-million project to buy and install new machines to build larger, more complex equipment for the company's multinational clients. It will also help fund the addition of another plant and office space.
John Gerretsen, MPP for Kingston and the Islands, says the project will not only help Transformix, it will help the local economy and Kingston's skilled workforce.
"Transformix Engineering Inc. is a wonderful example of what Kingston's highly-skilled labour force can accomplish," Gerretsen adds.
Transformix Engineering is a Kingston success story. Owned and operated by four Queen's University graduates, it has grown from a basement-run operation to become a trusted supplier of engineering and manufacturing excellence, employing more than 80 people in Ontario, the U.S. and Brazil.
The company serves many industries including oil and gas, nuclear, alternative energy, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, telecommunications and consumer disposables.
GreenCentre Canada stimulates $3.2 million in investment
A bold new approach to commercializing Canadian research discoveries in green chemistry has resulted in a $3.2-million vote of confidence from industry investors and venture capitalists.
The approach, pioneered by GreenCentre Canada, a national Centre of Excellence for green chemistry commercialization, has led to the development of a promising green solvent technology with a broad array of potential uses, from clean oil sands recovery to plastics recycling and oil extraction from seeds or algae.
The technology was discovered by Dr. Philip Jessop, Canada Research Chair in Green Chemistry at Queen's University, and forms the basis of a new Ontario company, Switchable Solutions Inc., established earlier this year by GreenCentre.
The investment, in the form of an initial equity offering, will be used to help the startup company bring its technology to market. It is a significant milestone for GreenCentre, which was formed only two years ago by PARTEQ Innovations, the technology transfer office of Queen's University.
"Our model is about turning great expectations around green discoveries into demonstrated value," says Dr. Rui Resendes, Executive Director of GreenCentre. "In this case we proved the value of this technology so effectively that we were able to start a company and raise significant money to support it."
"Both GreenCentre Canada and PARTEQ played important roles in advancing our technology from the pure research stage to the market-ready development stage," says Mark Badger, CEO of Switchable Solutions.
"With Switchable Solutions' initial equity offering complete and other financings nearing conclusion, we are poised to deliver technology that will have a transformational impact on our customers' profitability, as well as a significant positive impact on the environment," Badger says.