The Canadian Film Centre’s Resident Programme has expanded its slate of core training initiatives with the launch of The Editors’ Lab and renewed its $1.8 million Feature Film Project initiative which will produce three low-budget features over the next two years.

The Editors’ Lab complements the Resident Programme’s Directors’, Writers’ and Producers’ Labs and will offer four editors theoretical and practical experience in their craft as they develop a body of work under the guidance of a host of internationally acclaimed editors and Film Centre artistic director Deszo Magyar.

Genie award-winning editor Michael Pacek has been named the first editor in residence, heading up the editor training program.

The new initiative is sponsored by the Directors Guild of Canada/ Ontario District Council with the participation of O.L.E. Canada.

The Feature Film Project is a training initiative for first-time feature filmmakers which has produced five films since 1992 with the support of Telefilm Canada, the Ontario Film Development Corporation, the Harold Greenberg Fund and Viacom Canada.

A new development phase has been added to the program, which will see 15 feature film teams polish final draft scripts and prepare them for production. Three of these projects will then be greenlit through the Feature Film Project.

The center’s 1997 mentors in residence include producer Peter O’Brian, story editors Tecca Crosby and Allan Magee, casting director Marsha Chesley and writers Semi Chellas and Karen Walton.

The final submission deadline for the Feature Film Project is Sept. 30. One of the three positions of screenwriter, director or producer must be filled by a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s training programs in order to qualify.