A brilliant but disturbed scientist decides to freeze his children alive, while he races against time to cure their deadly genetic disease by unlocking the secret of immortality encoded within the DNA of the Turritopsis jellyfish.
Imagine a world without aging, injury, disease or death. Quint’s obsesson with this utopian dream pushes him to the edge of his sanity.
Rather than risk losing his dying children, Quint decides to preserve them in a cryonic ametabolic state while he researches genetic modifications that would induce in them the regenerative abilities of the “immortal” Turritopsis jellyfish.
Quint’s desperate need for embryonic stem cells sets him on a collision course with Masterson, a shadowy figure, whose bizarre motives trigger a chain of events with far-reaching consequences.
In Attendance:Maurice Haeems (writer-director) and Jay Sitaram (producer) will be present at the festival.
In Chimera, a brilliant but disturbed scientist freezes his children alive, to arrest the progression of their deadly genetic disease, while he races against time to unlock the secrets of immortality encoded within the DNA of the Turritopsis jellyfish. Chimera adds a new voice to the debate on human stem cells, animal testing, and genetics, and raises important philosophical questions about humanity, mortality and morality.
The film that Cryptic Rock Magazine rated “5 stars” and that Horror Society described as “a stunning work of art” was inspired by the director’s real-life experiences as loved ones struggled with severe life-threatening illnesses, organ failure, and genetic diseases. Chimera asks the existential questions “can humans live forever?” and if you could, “would you want to live forever?”
“My belief is that humans will prevail, and ultimately a world without suffering will be attainable, and from that utopian dream, that ethereal chimera, came the ideas for this story,” says director Maurice Haeems.
“My appreciation for the genre dates back to my work as a distributor in the nineties, releasing two of Wes Craven’s films, as well as Joel Schumacher's Flatliners, Chuck Russel's The Blog, Mike Nicholl's Wolf, Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein and the acclaimed Independence Day. Now I am proud to add Chimera to this brilliant lineage of horror/sci-fi masterpieces,” says Festival Advisor and Film Curator, Bruno Chatelin of FilmFestivals.com who included the film in his Best for Fests section.
About the Director:
Over the last two decades, Mumbai-born and Los Angeles-based Maurice Haeems has enjoyed successful careers in mechanical/fluid engineering, investment banking, and software entrepreneurship. In 2014, Maurice decided to pursue his fourth career (and first love) - storytelling and filmmaking. He returned to school to study screenwriting and directing, and wrote his first screenplay, Chimera. He collaborated with former investors and business partners to raise the capital for the project. Chimera was shot in Fitchburg, MA and will be released in 2018.
Maurice continues to be enthralled by advancements in biotechnology, the extension of human lifespans, and the science/fiction of immortality and transhumanism. He has completed the screenplay and begun development on his second feature (The Archetype) which further explores these themes and their impact on the human experience.
For more information about Chimera, please visit the following links:
Dorminsky Mario 
