Like the mythical beast which shares its name, Sam Guest and Julia Baylis’s short film Chimera is suspended between states. It’s dreamlike and poetic yet rooted in the banal and the familiar – even the tragedy which overshadows its narrative feels, sadly, like the kind of story we expect to catch on local news stations. As Frankie, its female lead, says: “Kids still die every day.” This may be true, but what the film is really about is what happens next: how the shadow of death hangs over those left behind, stuck in a world they’re fast outgrowing. The bloodied fists of boys with no other outlet but physicality, the empty looks of teen girls who dream of being someplace else, and their shared budding sexuality – a means of making sense of a world that’s not quite as innocent as it once was. Head here to read Guest and Baylis discuss the project, over two years in the making.