Private Project

Nuclear Nymphs

Logline:
Mystical Tiamat, the dragon goddess of the sea and primordial chaos, chants a song of seduction and destruction in the memory of her past lovers.

I weave a web of my own microcosmic narrative about fatal sirens, ondines, naiads, sea and water mythical creatures, such as their indirect foremother Tiamat, the dragon goddess of primordial chaos, but also vampires, succubi and aliens. I've been dealing with mythological creatures through my poetry and visual art since the turn of the century, and this project would be a testament to my obsession with all facets of female archetypes and the ways in which my fluid and multi-layered identity draws from that rich source and vast pool. The turbulent, dark and deep ocean is a metaphor for emotions, and the violent verbal images of seduction, castration and destruction are sadomasochistic and fetishistic fantasies after the death of a relationship that was meaningful to me or after trauma, which triggered numerous questions, breaks, pain and confusion in me. I nurture wings to rise from agony like a phoenix from the ashes or fight against despotic authority and the Name of the Father, in the shelter of wild nature and naked elements with which I am making love. I sexualize anger in order to create dramatic tension, and I process all motifs through the reconstruction of poetic language and playing with stylistic figures. I try to create a hypnotic, magical and mystical atmosphere, through linguistic acrobatics and ritualistically repetitive singing similar to a medieval liturgy or madrigal, in order to heal trauma and psychic fractures and to be reborn, as if from salt foam.

It is also significant that my father was a sailor and my name means "rock", and here my fictitious (anti)heroine acts as the ultimate siren who fights against what the Father psychoanalytically symbolizes, and in that battle the primal wildness of nature crushes and disintegrates sailing ships as ornate sea phalluses and returns the ocean to its primordial fold. In a way, I touch on Electra's complex, but inversely: I long for the Father as a structuring monad that I never had, and all the characters of my story are contrary to his image and features of the soul. But trouble, sacrifice and temptation occur when the symbolic paternal backbone is broken and the ocean of Id goes wild.

The video was based on a song I wrote immediately in English (I started writing songs in it during quarantine, when I discovered the gorgeous, metamorphosing and meandering possibilities of a language that is not my mother's tongue and with which I can play endlessly, juggling derivatives, synonyms and even words which I invented and dreamed up myself).

I interlaced the film with igniting sensuality, with a focus on oral fixation (biting and sucking/licking, i.e. schizoid vs. depressive position in the psychoanalytic theory of the formation of object relations).

  • Petra Brnardic
    Director
  • Petra Brnardic
    Writer
  • Petra Brnardic
    Producer
  • Petra Brnardic
    Key Cast
  • Petra Brnardic
    Camera
  • Petra Brnardic
    Singing
  • Petra Brnardic
    Poetry
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    thriller, drama, avantgarde, experimental, poetic, videoart, glitch, glitchart, collage, blackandwhite
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 33 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 17, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Croatia
  • Country of Filming:
    Croatia
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Nulcear Nymphs, Pop-Up Exhibition, Blank Inkubator
    Zagreb
    Croatia
    January 23, 2025
    Croatian Premiere
Director Biography - Petra Brnardic

I was born in 1978 in Zagreb, Croatia. I graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2004, in the class of professor Miroslav Sutej. I am engaged in visual arts (painting, drawing, photography, collage, installations, animation, multimedia), illustration and graphic design. I exhibited in numerous solo and group shows, in country and abroad (Zagreb, Sisak, Velika Gorica, Samobor, Varazdin, Cakovec, Lovinac, Duga Resa, Karlovac, Rijeka, Kastav, Pula, Porec, Split, Makarska in Croatia, Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tolmin, Maribor and Ljubljana in Slovenija, Novi Sad and Subotica in Serbia, Betlehem in Palestina, Rosario and Santa Fe in Argentina, Szczecin in Poland, Napoli, Macerata, Padova and Rome in Italy, Edinburgh, Bradford, Buckinghamshire and London in United Kingdom, Porto in Portugal, Forcalquier in France, Girona, Valencia and Alicante in Spain, Malmo in Sweden, Corvallis, Los Angeles, Roanoke, Bisbee, Florida and New York in USA, Bangalore in India, Valkenburg and Amsterdam in Netherlands, Tijuana in Mexico, Moscow in Russia, Thessaloniki, Greece; Berlin, Germany; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Jakarta, Indonesia, Tokyo, Japan, Taipei, Taiwan). I also write poetry and translate books. My work was presented in many printed and digital croatian and international publications, among others, in A5, Gestalten, Make8elieve, Poezija, Zarez, Rijeci, Vijenac, Self-As-Subject: The Multiple Exposure Project Zine (for visual arts) and Stigmart10 Videofocus- special edition (for cinema), "Il Corpo Solitario: Self-Timer in Contemporary Photography" by editor Giorgio Bonomi, "Eros and Pornos", antology of Croatian erotic drawing by editor Đuro Vanđura.

Filmography:
Nigredo (2005)
Red Room (2010)
Tempest (2011)
Bedazzled Castle (2013)
Fever (2015)
Virus (2016)
Glossolalia (2017)
Ghost Bride (2018)
Leviathan of Desire (2018)
Visitors (2018)
Satan´s Porcupine (2018)
Masquerade (2018)
Succubi (2019)
Electric Labyrinth (2019)
Tarantula (2020)
Bloodbath (2021)
Diamond Hurricane (2021)
Neon Viper/Possession (2021)
Midnight Orange (2021)
Mermaid Song (2021)
Echoes (2021)
Work in progress - dark suspense thriller (2021)
The Black Swan Flaming Ocean (2022)
Vicious Orchids (2022)
Butterfly And Snake (2023)
Nuclear Nymphs (2024)

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1997. Student club of Philosophy Faculty, Zagreb, Croatia
2000. The Queens, TEST! festival of theatre, Zagreb, Croatia (with Ksenija Kordic)
Between horns, Gjuro 2 club, Zagreb, Croatia (with Ksenija Kordic)
2001. Gallery St. Quirinus, Sisak, Croatia
2003. A voice from the gothic well, Alternative institute, Mostar, Bosnia and
Herzegovina
2004. Gjuro 2 club, Zagreb, Croatia
2005. Marchioness of pain, KIC, Zagreb, Croatia
2006. Schizomania, Gallery Artenativa, Zagreb, Croatia
2011. Rubedo, NANO Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
2013. Velvet Underground, Striegl Gallery, Sisak, Croatia
2015. Zagreb Book Festival, MUO Zagreb, Croatia
2016. Walpurgisnacht, Boonika Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
2019. Borderline, Fotoklub Split, Split, Croatia
Fatamorgana, Siva Gallery, AKC Medika, Zagreb, Croatia
2023. From Babylon to Uranus: Blood Moon Goddess (ArtSteps, online international worldwide solo exhibition)
2023. Spring Sangria Somnambulic Sirens (ArtSteps, online international worldwide solo exhibition)
2024. Eclipse of Eden (Vampire of Melancholia), Mocvara Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
2024. Dragon of Hysteria, Flora Gallery, Dubrovnik, Croatia
2024. Demons in my Dreams, Online Gallery (virtualgallery.com)
2024. Neptune Avenue (Overdose on Dreams), Siva Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
2025. Dancing in the Desert Flames, international solo exhibition, online virtual gallery (Artsteps)

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2000. Sisak youth salon, Sisak, Croatia
2001. Students from the class of prof. Sutej, Gallery Galzenica, Velika
Gorica, Croatia
2002. Second Sisak youth salon, Sisak, Croatia
2003. Sisak in Zagreb, Attack club, Zagreb, Croatia
Women, Attack club, Zagreb, Croatia
Third Sisak youth salon, Sisak, Croatia
2004. Sisak artistic circle, Gallery Striegl, Sisak, Croatia
Absolutely baroque, Horvat house, Varazdin, Croatia
Great culture fair, SC, Zagreb, Croatia
2005. FONA, international festival of new art, Hartera, Rijeka, Croatia
Eros and P*****, Gallery Striegl, Sisak, Croatia
Print to Art, MMC Luka, Pula, Croatia
2006./2007. Selfportrait: a Show for Betlehem
– Betlehem, Palestina
– Santa Fe, Argentina
– Napoli, Italy
– Szczecin, Poland
– Rosario, Argentina
2008. Kliker!, international festival of pop-poetry, SC, Zagreb, Croatia
2009. Violated violator, Generation x – female perspectives, Medika club, Zagreb, Croatia
2010. Zagreb Youth Salon, HDLU Zagreb, Croatia
2011. Forest Art Auction, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Photodistorzija, Zuccato Gallery, Porec, Croatia
New Year's Eve Great group exhibition of artists, Greta Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
2012. NUS (Tampon Generation), Aquarium Bacvice, Split, Croatia
Antisalon, Medika Club, Zagreb, Croatia
2013. NUS 2 (Taboo), MKC Split, Croatia
Martyrs, Zadar, Croatia
Martyrs, Zagreb, Croatia
2014. 23rd Days of Croatian Cinematography, Kino SC, Zagreb, Croatia
Kastav Film Festival, Kastav, Croatia
Komikaze po Puli, Pula, Croatia
Ohoho Festival, AKC Medika, Zagreb, Croatia
Komikaze na-20 obljetnici akc pekarne Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
VATRA.Toplina.Silina., Trenutak39, Zagreb, Croatia
Komikaze, Tolmin/Sotocje, Slovenia
Exquisite Corpses, Fort Turtian, Pula, Croatia
StripSalon, Novi Sad, Serbia (with Komikaze)
World animation festival, Kino Tuškanac, Zagreb, Croatia
3rd Croatian Triennale of Self-Portrait, PUO Samobor, Croatia
2015. Kastav Film Festival, Kastav, Croatia (with short experimental movie „Fever“)
„Crack Festival“, Forte Prenestino, Rome, Italy
Zadruga Praksa, Pula, Croatia
Femicomix, Kino Šiška – Mesto žensk, Ljubljana, Slovenia
47. Revue of Croatian Cinematography, City Library „Ivan Goran Kovacic“, Karlovac, Croatia
3rd Biennale of Painting, HDLU Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
2016. Komikaze & OFICINA ARARA, Porto, Portugal
Komikaze - Femicomix, Le Garage L., Forcalquier, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Komikaze - Femicomix, AKC Nigdjezemska, Zadar, Croatia
Komikaze - Femicomix, Strip Festival AltCom, Folkets Park, Malmo, Sweden
Drunken Film Festival, Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Girona Film Festival, Girona, Spain
Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest, London, UK
12th Revue of one minute film, Kinodvorana Za-Te Plus, Zagreb
Night of video and performance, City Museum, Sisak
Pivilion: ~co-op~ , 25th Slavonian Biennale, Borders of visibility, Osijek, Croatia
2017. Paura Festival Internacional De Cine De Terror De Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Corvallis Queer Film Festival, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
AccessCode Film Festival, Bangalore, India
Komikaze Femicomix - Ratatata Fest, Macerata, Italy
Komikaze Femocomix, Gradski muzej Virovitica, Croatia
Media Mediterranea 19: Digital Romance, Titov park, Pula, Croatia
2017. DEEP TRASH IN THE UNDERWORLD, Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. London, UK
2017. Art Camp Empeduja, Antonio Lauer Beach, Rijeka, Croatia
2017. MIRACLES, video art festival, Valkenburg, Netherlands
2017. Day and night of video and performance, Sisak, Croatia
2017. Lovepiece, Galerija Galženica, Velika Gorica, Croatia
2018. P****´s Smoke, Esseker Centar, Osijek, Croatia
2018. MARATHONA GEOFILM, Cittadella, Padova, Italy
2018. GIFEST#6, Subotica, Serbia
2018. Komikaze, Design District, Old Military Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia
2018. F12: Free art display | Duga Resa, Croatia
2018. F12: Free art display | Karlovac, Croatia
2018. F12: Free art display | Lovinac, Croatia
2018. F12: Free art display | Zagreb, Croatia
2018. "Inferno", FotoFilm Festival Tijuana, Mexico
2018. Media Mediterranea 20 - Nature and Technology, SKUC, Titov park and MSUI Pula, Croatia
2018. Poetry In Preparation (video poetry evening), Prozori Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
2018. Zeljezara Festival - Visual Poetry And Prose Mix, Striegl Gallery, Sisak, Croatia
2018. 50th Revue Of Croatian Cinematography, Tuskanac Cinema , Zagreb, Croatia (participating with two short experimental movies, "Leviathan Of Desire" and "Masquerade") - received special acknowledgement and certificate for the first one
2019. TeePublic Gallery Show, John Doe Gallery Brooklyn, New York, USA
Hystorical Madness: Performative Studies of a Case: Slet - Memory of a Space (group choreography), organized and curated by Kustoska platforma, KNAP Center, Zagreb, Croatia
LiftOff Sessions: Short Indie Movies Online Film Festival, June Edition
Hystorical Madness: Performative Studies of a Case: Performance Marathon, organized and curated by Kustoska platforma, KNAP Center, Zagreb, Croatia
Fu:Bar/expo, AKC Medika, Zagreb, Croatia
La Collezione X**, Ospizio Giovani Artisti, Rome, Italy
Nudita, Ospizio Giovani Artisti, AMACI Contemporary Day and Rome Art Week, Rome, Italy
STIFF Film and gif festival, SKC Gallery Rijeka, Croatia
17th Festival of the First, Performance Art Multimedia Festival, KNAP, Zagreb, Croatia
Vite, Morte e Miracoli, Ospizio Giovani Artisti, Roma, Italy
Format C | #pivilion_dot_net, Scheier, Čakovec
Is there any art after internet?, HDLU Pula, Pula, Croatia

2020. Amore?, Ospizio Giovani Artisti, Rome, Italy
Mysticon Independent Film Festival, Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Deep Trash Turkish Delight, Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, London, UK
14TH Vox Feminae Festival, Zagreb, Croatia
Thessaloniki Queer Art Festival 2020, Thessaloniki, Greece
"Nesvrstani" Art Fair, Lauba, Zagreb, Croatia
Thessaloniki Queer Art Festival at Hosek Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
ALC Videoart Festival, Alicante, Spain
Inquiry Inc. 2020. #pivilion_dot_net, Booksa, Zagreb, Croatia
Inquiry Inc. 2020. #pivilion_dot_net The Wrong, Scheier Centre, Cakovec, Croatia
Night of the Sisak video art, Sisak, Croatia
Darkroom Film Festival, London, United Kingdom
Fu:bar/Expo, AKC Medika, Zagreb, Croatia
Miracle Film Festival, Sanibel, Florida, USA
Pop-up Exhibition, Striegl Gallery, Sisak, Croatia

2021. Horror Lust Film Festival
T-Short Animated Film Festival
Gutterbliss Temporary Testival, online movie festival
Thessaloniki queer film festival 2021, Thessaloniki, Greece
Di Letti e Castighi, OGA (S)exhibitions, Ospizio Giovani Artisti, Rome, Italy
Horror Lust Film Festival
T-Short Animated Film Festival
Gutterbliss Temporary Testival, online movie festival
Thessaloniki queer film festival 2021, Thessaloniki, Greece
Di Letti e Castighi, OGA (S)exhibitions, Ospizio Giovani Artisti, Rome, Italy
Gifest, Subotica, Serbia
Lift-Off Online Sessions, Film Festival
Mostra: ESPLICITAZIONI DIONISIACHE, Rome, Italy
MAKE8ELIEVE #ISSUE 16: Terreur Nocturne (magazine feature)
Animae Caribe International Animation & Digital Media Festival
Impudent Mind, Rome Art Week, Rome, Italy
Free The Kitsch Film Festival, Athens, Greece
Bomba Video Club, Film festival, Moscow, Russia
Fu:bar Expo 2021, Zagreb, Croatia and international online
2022. Erotika u umjetnosti (Erotica in Art), HDLU Istria, Pula, Croatia
Fu:bar 2022: Exhibition @online
„Il corpo solitario“ – Self-timer in Contemporary Photography - anthology by Giorgio Bonomi
Festival of the First, KNAP, Zagreb, Croatia – being part of the exhibition, premiere of my short experimental thriller noir „Vicious Orchids“ and artist talk with me curated by Josipa Bubaš
Imajitari 2022, film festival, Jakarta, Indonesia (with my short experimental dance filmommovie „The Black Swan Flaming Ocean“)
Tuzla Film Festival, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Fu:bar Glitch Art Festival, French Institute and online, Croatia and worldwide
3. WIITWD Fetish Festival, Zagreb, 19th November 2022 – exhibition of my erotic BDSM illustrations and graphic prints
Future Vision Festival, film festival, Tokyo, Japan
2023. SEE Online Film Festival, with my short experimental movie „Diamond Hurricane“
GIFEST, Subotica, Srbija (special ackgnowledgement)
Rand Film Festival, Kassel, Germany (with my short experimental movie „Vicious Orchids“)
FU:BAR 2023: International Glitch Art Festival, Zagreb and worldwide (with work „Playing with Fire“
"Order and Chaos" – group online exhibition on the platform Art Collide, USA (with my collage "Carmencita" from 2015)
2024. Femicomix – Girrrls To The Front, AKC Attack, Zagreb, Croatia
Femicomix, Tam-Tam Music Festival, Sućuraj, Hvar, Croatia
Metakansk Film Festival, Belgrade, Serbia
6th Zagreb Drawing and Illustration Festival, group exhibition, InArt Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
FUBAR Expo, International Glitch Art Festival, Pogon Jedinstvo, Zagreb, Croatia
Mostra curata da Giorgio Bonomi: “La solitudine dell’Origine del mondo. Autoscatti di artiste”, Perugia, Italy (group exhibition)
Corpoligie IX, Ospizio Giovanni Artisti, Rome, Italy (group exhibition)
FUBAR Expo, International Glitch Art Festival, Taipei, Taiwan
Free the Kitsch, Athens Film Festival, Athens, Greece
2025. Avant-garde Horror and Fantasy Film Festival, Novigrad, Croatia
Florence Movie Awards (I received a silver award for the short experimental movie „Nuclear Nymphs“), Florence, Italy
New York Movie Awards (I received an honorable mention for my short experimental movie „Nuclear Nymphs“)

Collaborations:
2017 – „Coalition“ with Marijan Crtalić - Festival Željezara, Sisak and Art Kamp Empeduja, Bivio Beach, Rijeka, Croatia
2019 – Historical Madness: Performative case studies: Slet- space memory, Kustoska platforma, KNAP, Zagreb, Croatia
Historical Madness: Performative case studies: Performance Marathon, Kustoska platforma, KNAP, Zagreb, Croatia
2019 – guest in "C over?", project by Quizzical Körper, performed in AKC Medika, Zagreb, Croatia (August 2019)

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I am working on short experimental movies for several years, and I usually use collage technique and surreal, vivid, psychedelic imagery inspired by silent movie era, underground and cult movies mostly from the 60s, 70s and early 80s, horror and camp aesthetics and other forms of arts. My cinema is visual poetry, often brutal, macabric, hallucinant and full of polarities, like sex and death or good versus evil, just like the deepest caves of human psyche and ocean of subconsciousness.