The Pulse: Sept. 29, 2022

The 36th Edmonton International Film Festival features 152 films from around the world, including a strong body of work from Edmontonians.

A few local films are still to be screened as part of the 10-day festival's Studio A track, which highlights Alberta filmmakers. Among them is Sara Campos-Silvius's second short film, Power Chord, as well as Kaden Peter Wilson's first film-fest entry, Hawk for a Handsaw, both of which are playing Sept. 29.

Nauzanin Knight is back at EIFF this year with two films: the animated short called Abu and Mo: Two Orphans and an "inversive romantic comedy" called ColorBlind, about a white supremacist who is temporarily blinded by laser-eye surgery and falls in love with a Black woman.

"I wanted to use humour to disarm audiences, in order to be able to engage in conversations about issues that I'm really passionate about," said Knight.

Previously, Knight has explored social issues through a documentary called Precarity, which addresses the experiences of temporary foreign workers in Alberta. Presenting the themes of ColorBlind in narrative form gave her a different way to get her point across.

"I think it really pushes audiences to get involved in the conversation and maybe puts them off guard a bit, in a way that that feels uncomfortable," Knight explained.

• City council's urban planning committee voted 4-0 to endorse investing $170 million to build an additional 100 kilometres of bike lanes along major commuter routes and in neighbourhoods. A second option would build 130 kilometres of bike lanes for $130 million, but may mean the full network isn't completed by 2030. Council will discuss both options again during fall budget talks. "We have to get serious about building out our active transportation network," Coun. Ashley Salvador said during the meeting. Coun. Aaron Paquette shared a Twitter thread addressing many of the common concerns that are raised when council proposes spending money on bike lanes.
• Innovate Edmonton has rebranded as Edmonton Unlimited. The move also consolidates former divisions Startup Edmonton, Scaleup Edmonton, and Accelerate Edmonton into a single brand. "Edmonton Unlimited captures the spirit of our city, harnesses the power of possibility, and brings the best of Edmonton to the world," said CEO Catherine Warren. According to Postmedia columnist Keith Gerein, members of Edmonton's innovation community currently view the organization with both optimism and reservation. "However, the most common comments I received surrounded a belief that the new organization had not yet articulated a clear role," wrote Gerein. "And considering that the new brand is Edmonton Unlimited, it may well reinforce perceptions of an agency that is unfocused, or trying to do too much."
• The Provincial Court of Alberta has announced a new Indigenous Justice Strategy designed in consultation with Indigenous legal experts and First Nations and Métis groups. Along with Indigenous mentorship and hiring initiatives, the strategy involves opening a restorative justice-focused Indigenous court in Edmonton on Sept. 30, based on a similar court in Calgary that deals with sentencing hearing and bail application for non-violent cases. Richard Mirasty, a Cree-speaking defence lawyer, said the strategy was a "nice gesture" but only a "band-aid on a festering wound that's that has been around for 100 years."
• kihciy askiy, the first urban Indigenous ceremonial grounds in Canada, is under construction south of Fox Drive and Whitemud Drive. Once complete, the site will have up to eight sweat lodges, an amphitheatre, and space for tipis, fires, ceremonies, and workshops. "To be here today, after all these years, is really to be stepping into a dream that I know is going to be beneficial for many Indigenous families and youth and elders," said Lewis Cardinal, project manager for the Indigenous Knowledge and Wisdom Centre (IKWC). Construction is expected to carry through to spring 2023.
• The Edmonton Federal Building was officially renamed the Queen Elizabeth II Building at a ceremony on Sept. 27. The province says the change takes effect immediately, but signage is forthcoming. "After all, why would the de facto headquarters of the Government of Alberta be named the Federal Building?" Premier Jason Kenney said. "With all due respect to my friends in Ottawa."
• The University of Alberta has inaugurated the Diwan Pavilion at the Aga Khan Garden, which is part of the University of Alberta Botanic Garden. The pavilion commemorates 50 years of Ismaili Muslim history in Canada and the community's partnership with the university.
• The Edmonton Elks, who have not won a home game since 2019, are hoping for a victory against the Montreal Alouettes at Commonwealth Stadium on Oct. 1. A loss against Montreal, combined with a Saskatchewan win over Winnipeg on Sept. 30, would put the Elks out of the playoffs.

Episode 31 of Bloom features an interview with two leaders from Zero Point Cryogenics, an Edmonton-based company that is the only Canadian manufacturer of dilution refrigerators, a key piece of equipment for quantum research.

Chief technology officer John P. Davis co-founded the company in 2017 at the University of Alberta, where he is a professor of physics. Zero Point spun off on its own in 2021. "That's when (Chris Cassin) came on and took it from an academic exercise in company-building to a real company doing real serious things," Davis said.

Cassin had just finished selling the assets of a transportation logistics company that succumbed to the pandemic, and he was looking to invest in tech companies. He got involved in Startup TNT, which brings investors and startups together every Thursday night as well as at regular pitch nights and summits.

Startup TNT's founder did a little matchmaking, Cassin recalled. "One night, Zack Storms was like, 'Chris, I met this guy in the playground. He builds fridges. You should talk to him.'"

Davis found his CEO in Cassin, and now the company is getting traction. In addition to securing a side deal at Startup TNT's Investment Summit V, Zero Point has been awarded a contract to build a dilution refrigerator for testing by the National Research Council, and it has two more purchase orders in hand.

Learn more about the Zero Point Cryogenics story on the Sept. 29 episode, which also shares what Startup TNT is up to next and takes a look at Edmonton Unlimited, the newly rebranded entity formerly known as Innovate Edmonton.