This is not a revenge film, and no one gets saved. From the minds of Director Marlow Magdalene and Writer/Choreographer Allison O'Brien, Chimera is about the struggle to move forward when the mind says to run away but the body wants to fight back. 

Chimera is a dark, yet cheeky, experimental dance film that delves into the complexities of trauma, revenge, and the power of female solidarity. Through stunning dance sequences and evocative storytelling, Chimera offers a haunting and unusual exploration of the question we all grapple with when harmed: bite back or move on?

The tone of the film will be intimate, unsettling, and intriguing.

Themes

Chimera explores themes of duality and transformation. We explore the duality of the interior and the exterior, both physical and spiritual. The body is both violated and violent itself, and Isabel, our protagonist, reflects our own internal struggles with acceptance over vengeance.

The healing power of friendship and using the imagination as a tool for self-determination guides us through the second theme of transformation.

Hey, it's Alli here! Raise your hand if you, or someone you love, has experienced gender-based and/or sexual violence? Yeah. So many of us.

While the impact of these experiences can ruin relationships and distort ones sense of self and safety, most media flatten the experience, pitying the survivor or requiring some authority (typically a boyfriend, cop, or father) to save the day. Blegh.

I’ve created Chimera to offer you what’s actually real: regaining our sense of wholeness is a messy, deeply personal, journey that requires alchemizing the parts of ourselves we don’t recognize with a future self we must work to create. It requires the support of loving friendships and family, as well as a deep trust in one's own imagination as a tool for re-creation and self-determination. Chimera speaks to one version of this process of returning to self.

Beyond the survivor’s story, Chimera tackles a crucial question for the LGBTQ+ community: how do we become our True Self when mainstream models don’t fit? While RuPaul, flamboyant Pride parades, and my personal favorite, Callie Torres in Grey’s Anatomy, would say we’ve got it figured out, there’s always a shadow side. 

Sometimes queer relationships reengage abusive power dynamics, either because it’s all we know, or because it’s what we think our partners want from us. In Theo, a transman, we see a familiar character who attempts to self-actualize by delivering the same misogynistic violence he was targeted with in his childhood. 

Chimera doesn’t provide any easy answers to these important interpersonal and social questions. Instead, it offers us a portal into deeper empathy and expanded self-knowing. 

Why dance

Sexual violence is a violation of the body. It detaches the soul from its vessel in our attempt to dissociate our Self from the site of harm. As one of the few art forms that allows us to truly embody our imaginative interior, dance allows Isabel to reintegrate her psyche and spirit with her body. Can healing come when she weaponizes her flesh, once the site of violence, as a tool for retribution? Or is it merely an alternative to screaming into the void? Join us to find out.

Our Plan

We are currently wrapping up pre-production (casting, location scouting, and finalizing the script).

Our goal is to film Chimera in Oakland, CA in the beginning of December 2024. We aim to create an entirely queer production, providing a platform for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC talent both in front of and behind the camera. We will complete post-production by early 2025 and submit to festivals throughout the year.

While Chimera will be a wonderful cinematic experience, it will also be a rallying point for healing, education, and building community around shared experience. By hosting events and screenings, we see Chimera as an opportunity to realize these additional goals for our audience and community:

• Unite queer community, dancers, and domestic violence survivors through film and art
• Create vibrant events for LGBTQ+ individuals, dancers, survivors, and filmmakers
• Empower survivors with knowledge of their options for justice and healing

With your pledges, shares on social media, and emails to your friends, we can hit 100% of our funding goal. Our stretch goal is $25,000.

We must hit 80% of our goal to get the green light -- to receive ANY of the funds raised.

Our goal for this crowdfund is $20,000. This is what that amount will go towards:

• crew
• location
• one-of-a-kind score from Bay Area DJ Lil Ze
• actors and dancers
• set dressing and props
• equipment rental
• meals
• insurance

If we hit this goal then our stretch goals are:

$25,000 - paying everyone, including those who contributed their time (producer, choreographer, extras, some dancers)

$30,000 - better crew rates

$35,000 - covers initial post-production costs of editor and colorist

We so appreciate you engaging with this project in any way you can (including just reading through this page!). Truly, your interest and support mean so much. Any amount, even $5, will help us in reaching our goal and give voice to this important story.

You can also support by spreading the word! Copy and paste this blurb into your texts, emails, and social media to let others know about our project :)

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Help @film.chimera and a group of diverse independent filmmakers by supporting the fantasy thriller dance project #chimera on @seedandspark! Join them here: seedandspark.com/fund/chimera.

Check out and follow the team on instagram, facebook, and X for teasers, behind-the-scenes, and inspiration.

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Meet Emmett Preciado, Actor, Model, Trans Activist, and now...THEO in Chimera!

We were blown away by the personality and expression in his audition tape. From an interview in Shoutout LA, Emmett says "I am passionate about telling stories, especially queer stories. I think it’s important for people to see Trans artists in mainstream media, not only for representation and visibility, but to educate. That’s why I’m very open about my “Transness.” I’m here, and I’m here to represent."

Amelia’s casual and fun relationship with Theo is made even sweeter with the addition of intermittent dates with a bisexual babe, Isabel. But when Amelia decides to break up with Theo, he escalates into obsessive and violent behaviors, threatening her family and her life. In the fallout, Theo reveals a darker side was lingering all along when he sent out revenge porn he nonconsensually recorded throughout their relationship. 

Isabel's world shatters when Amelia tells her about Theo’s homophobic violation. While Amelia just wants to move on and return to her grounded, successful life, Isabel grapples with her grief at yet another man’s betrayal. 

With her imagination to guide her rage, Isabel teeters on the self-destructive edge of vengeance. Processing her humiliation and anger through dance, Isabel conjures up various revenge fantasies, some of which enlist Amelia and other survivors of Theo's violence, edging closer and closer to outright attacking Theo.

Isabel’s dive into the darker side of her psyche parallels Theo’s own deepening loneliness and unraveling. He lost the girl he loves and can’t shake the worry that those videos will now haunt him forever. 

Isabel’s artistic self-expression allows her to process her grief just enough, so that when she runs into Theo again, she finds the spell of rage has broken.

[ISABEL: Isabel is a queer dancer. She's optimistic, resilient, and a bit naive. She's forced to process her vulnerability and anger after getting wrapped up in Theo's mysogynistic violence, relying heavily on Amelia's mature example while also allowing her imagination to guide her rage. She walks that precarious lin e between acceptance and vengeance.]

[AMELIA: How do you not blame yourself for introducing a violent manchild into your home and family? Driven, charismatic, and getting bored in middle age, Amelia doesn't take anyones shit, which is why Theo's behavior caught her off guard. As she reconnects with Isabel, her iced-over heart begins to thaw.]

[THEO: Theo, a transman, enjoyed the intermittent flings with Isabel and his then-girlfriend Amelia. But he didn't expect his relationship to change. Wanting, confused, and gorgeous, Theo doesn't often get met with rejection. As Isabel and Amelia heal from his violence, he finds himself even more lonely and lost.]

Disclaimer: The images used are not the property of the Chimera and are merely used for inspiration. They come from the following movie, TV, and music sources: Ten Things I Hate About You, Saltburn, Silver Lining's Playbook, Grey's Anatomy, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, The Bear, Florence and the Machine, I May Destroy You, Bound, Festen, Throw Away Your Books, Law of Desire.

Chimera is fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media, a 501(c)3) charity. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to support Chimera, please go here! Gifts made through Seed&Spark are not tax-deductible.