A chilling new thriller filmed in Uxbridge and the surrounding area is set to make its premiere at the Oakville Film Festival this month, putting Durham Region’s growing film industry in the spotlight.
The Ontario independent film Chimera, directed and co-written by Uxbridge resident Jacob Phair and co-written and edited by Mississauga resident Vrishub Merai, will screen at the festival on June 22. The film is described as a genre-bending thriller that reimagines the found footage format with a fresh and unpredictable approach.
The story follows Teddy, a private investigator played by Michael Joseph Delaney, who accepts a case that bears a chilling resemblance to the unsolved disappearance of his own sister when they were children. As Teddy gets closer to the truth, he is thrown into a nightmarish game of cat and mouse that he may never escape.
What sets this Chimera found footage thriller Uxbridge production apart from typical entries in the genre is the way the filming technique is woven directly into the character’s psychology. The main character has a compulsion to film his everyday life as a kind of therapy, using the camera to interact with the outside world because he is a loner traumatized by his sister’s abduction.
The found footage element was integral to the main character arc, Merai explained. It was not just found footage for the sake of style but was deeply connected to the character and his emotional journey throughout the film.
The duo shot the film on a remarkably tight budget of around $100,000, taking advantage of locations they knew they could access for free across Ontario. Phair’s family cottage in Bobcaygeon served as an eerie backdrop for several key scenes, while other portions were filmed right in Uxbridge, including a pivotal convenience store sequence.
Phair and Merai first met at Humber College’s film school, now Humber Polytechnic, where they collaborated on a short film called Lure. That project caught the attention of producers who were interested in working with the pair on a found footage thriller. When asked if he had a script ready, Phair admitted he bluffed but had an idea and what he called the greatest writing partner in the history of the world.
The two wrote frantically over three months, crafting a script designed to be an easy yes from producers by including a feasibility list of specific Ontario locations where they could film without cost. They shot the entire film over just 10 days in November 2024, with post-production completed mainly in Mississauga over the course of 2025.
The film’s title draws from Greek mythology, where the Chimera represents a creature or challenge that can never be overcome. In the film, it represents Teddy’s antagonist, the one thing he can never defeat.
Both filmmakers emphasized that the Chimera found footage thriller Uxbridge project is a testament to grassroots Canadian filmmaking. This movie should not exist with the resources and time they had, Merai said, but through sheer determination and heart from the cast and crew, they somehow made it happen.
Phair added that the film proves you do not need a huge budget to make a feature-length film. All you need is a really good idea and a vision to execute it. This is a true Canadian independent film, and we really did it with nothing, he said.
Chimera premieres at the Oakville Film Festival on Monday, June 22 at 8 p.m., with a question and answer session with the filmmakers and cast following the screening. Tickets and more information are available through the festival website.
