QPIX Funding May Have Been Cut By Screen Queensland The future of Queensland's only film development centre is under a cloud, with Screen Queensland apparently cutting its funding. QPIX acts as ""finishing school"" for film graduates, giving them industry experience and funding to produce work. The organisation released a statement on its website on Wednesday stating it faced closure from December 31. However the statement was pulled down on Thursday afternoon. About 100 emerging Queensland filmmakers would be left in the lurch for the second half of 2013 if the funding was cut. ""Everyone who was on the slate this year has gotten a phone call this morning saying "Sorry, we don't have any money, we can't fund your films anymore,"" Brisbane filmmaker Michael Knott told Fairfax Media. Mr Knott said QPIX was due to produce ten short films, with about 20 people working on each. ""I've got camera people booked in, I was getting my crew together, and now we're all like, do we stick around?"" Knott said he was no longer paid for his short entitled You Are A House, but would still have to his staff. ""We probably were going to get $4000 to $5000 from QPIX, and we were going to put in about the same ourselves,"" Mr Knott said. ""Now we're going to try to do it for half the budget, whatever we can raise ourselves basically."" Knott said QPIX's hands-on approach provided a unique chance for filmmakers to step-up from their training courses into the industry. He said that any cut gave the impression that Screen Queensland was giving up on emerging talent. ""It seems like they're focusing on trying to get Angelina Jolie in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea here, focusing on the very top end of the market,"" he said. The now-removed statement on QPIX's website said the organisation would receive transitional funding from Screen Queensland to finish production on three drama films to be broadcast on ABC2 and five indigenous documentaries to be shown on NITV/SBS. Chairman Stephen Keim hinted in the statement that QPIX would seek other means of support to continue operating in 2014. ""The board of QPIX has no doubt that early-career filmmakers in Queensland will sorely miss the professional development and production services QPIX is uniquely qualified to deliver,"" he said. ""For that reason, we will consider all reasonable opportunities to continue to make our crucial contribution to the industry."" Comment was sought from QPIX and Screen Queensland.