Chimera

A Dance Film Short

Betrayed by a hidden camera, Isabel attempts to heal her body’s score, weaponizing dance in a twisted fantasy that leaves her abuser questioning his grip on reality.

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Mission

The impact of gender-based and sexual violence ruins relationships and distorts ones sense of self and safety. Most media flatten the experience and further dehumanize the survivor, pitying them or requiring some authority to come save the day. Because sexual violence is against the body, this film explores how dance, through fantasy, can help us find agency, heal and finally accept an experience we never asked for. For Isabel, her body is both a site of violence, and now, her answer to healing.

Synopsis

We all have a choice when someone hurts us: bite back or move on. What happens when we want both?
Isabel learns how a short-lived fling with Amelia and Theo, a slightly toxic and very hot couple, put her in the wake of Theo’s escalating violence. Optimistic, strong, bisexual, and a bit naive, she finds herself having to process yet another violation by a man. Trusting her imagination to guide her rage, Isabel weaponizes dance in a brutal fantasy, calling on the other women Theo has hurt, and offering herself a power she doesn’t actually have in heteropatriarchy.