Metro Screen has announced that it must close after more than three decades of training and supporting Australian filmmakers.
The not-for-profit film school, which also provides funding grants for emerging filmmakers, is unable to continue operating without its $240,000 grant from Screen Australia.
“Every effort has been made by Metro Screen to secure additional funding but to no avail," Metro Screen Board Chair Kath Shelper (producer of Samson & Delilah, Here I Am and The Turning) said in a statement announcing the closure.
The Screen Australia funding covered 'core operational costs' and despite some success in securing additional funding, according to Metro Screen CEO Christina Alvarez,"Financial sustainability can not be achieved through downsizing the organisation.”
The cancelling of the grant follows the extensive cuts to federal government arts funding, seeing Screen Australia's budget reduced by $3.6 million over four years.
Metro Screen was established in 1981 with funding from the Australian Film Commission, Screen Australia's previous incarnation.
One of the many successful Australian filmmakers Metro Screen claims as its own is actor/director Wayne Blair (The Sapphires, 'Redfern Now'). Blair's most recent feature, the US-made Septembers of Shiraz starring Salma Hayek and Adrien Brody, is premiering next week at Toronto International Film Festival.
'Wayne started his screen career at Metro Screen when he received funding, support and mentoring for his first two films Fade 2 Black and Jubulg,' the Metro Screen website proudly boasts.
Metro Screen's current programs will continue until the end of the year.
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