Montreal: The Canadian Screen Training Centre opens a new season of national craft instruction and professional seminars with Rencontre Montreal, a workshop, networking and screening program slated for Nov. 27-29.

Sandy Crawley, cstc’s new exec director and former national president of actra from 1991-97, says cstc workshop stopovers in ’99 include St. John’s, Fredricton and Regina, with a high-end management road show planned for some half-dozen Canadian cities, among them Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto and Halifax.

The Rencontre Montreal lineup includes workshops in both English and French on screenwriting, producing, documentaries, direction and acting for film and tv.

Confirmed workshop leaders include screenwriter Robert Geoffrion, director/writer John Greyson, producers Louise Garfield and Leon Marr, actor/director Paule Baillargeon and actor/novelist Gale Garnett. A documentary producer will be added.

The Montreal workshop takes place at Studio LaSalle and is sponsored by Groupe Covitec. Evening screenings at Cinema onf take place on Nov. 27 and Nov. 28.

The program includes a separate professional management seminar on legal, distribution and financing issues. Laurier Lapierre, Telefilm Canada chairman, will moderate.

The entire program costs $395, and information is available at 1-800-742-6016.

‘Robert Lantos has agreed to join our advisory board with Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) and we are hoping to feature [Lantos] as our keynote speaker next year [at The Summer Institute of Film and Television],’ says Crawley.

The Institute’s program in early June is expanding to include new craft categories such as new media, music scoring and editing. cstc has an annual budget of $500,000.