Nichola Drawing Artist: Campbell Bruce

Nichola Bruce works with the moving image. She films elements of her life almost every day and has an extensive archive of over 30 years of home movie.

She began making films on super 8 and 16mm. Collages of live action, performance and animation. She has made feature dramas and documentaries. Many of these evolve through her drawing process. Her archive continues to inform her latest works.

She exhibits her work as film, Installation, single and multiple screenings, at galleries, cinemas, other venues and online.

Chronology of selected work

STRANGENESS OF SEEING EXPERIMENTAL – Exhibition
Screen South Showcase Artist
Artists: Nichola Bruce  Rebecca Marshall
Creative producer : Christos Hatjoullis
Jan 2025

TWISTED LADDER-HYBRIDISIO
BFI XR develop create
Immersive Script Development
Sept 24 – Apr 2025

GONE WILD IN EGERTON – Documentary
Artists Living and Working together in rural Idyll in 1960’s
Features Fred Cuming RA, Jacqueline Stanley RHA, John Titchell RA, and freinds
In Production- completion June 25

FLAYED SOUL Screening and Talk
Claude Cahun – Cancelled Confessions
Electric Palace
15 December 24

SOME THINGS I KNOW ABOUT MY MOTHER
SOME THINGS I DON’T- Feature Documentary
Portrait of the artist Jacqueline Stanley
In Post Production – completion Jan 25

ILLUSION, PERCEPTION, VISUAL EXTENSIONS – Screening
21 September 24

FLAYED SOUL Screening and Talk
Claude Cahun – Cancelled Confessions
Kino, UK
10 October 24

I COULD READ THE SKY
Evening of Photography, Conversation and Song
Photo Museum Ireland
Online Screening Material from Nichola Bruce Archive
February 2024

2022/23

I COULD READ THE SKY – Screening 
The Colloquium For Unpoular Culture, USA
December 2023

WINGS OF DEATH – BFI Release
Short Sharp Shocks III
October 2023

THE ROMANCE OF BRICKS – Screening 
Rye Art Gallery, UK
26th October 2023

I COULD READ THE SKY – Screening 
Clones Festival, Ireland
October 27th 2023

SOUTH LONDON STINKS  punkzine – Exhibition
Punk Rage and Revolution, UK
May- Sept  2023

ROUTINE and PHOTO PHOTO PHOTO – Screening  
Punk Rage Revolution, UK
May- Sept  2023

AXIS OF LIGHT 
Screening – Outdoor film cycle – Alula – Saudi Arabia 
February 16th till March 23rd

Poster for THE DRAUGHTSMAN’S CONTRACT – Exhibition
Created and designed by Nichola Bruce and Mike Coulson also known as KRUDDART/MUSCLE FILMS, 

2021
THE ROMANCE OF BRICKS
The Art of Liz Finch
Feature Documentary
Distributed by HENI


THE ROMANCE OF BRICKS
The Art of Liz Finch
Book
Distributed by HENI


BINNIE SISTERS at Towner Gallery
The Binnie sisters Explore their Exhibition at Towner
Documentary


2020
52 WEEKS
52 one minute films from Nichola Bruce Archive
released weekly


RETURNING TO GODOT
Filmed extracts from Waiting For Godot
Website for Peter Marinker


JOIN ME IN THE DANCE
Commissioned short for Coastal Currents Art Festival


WEIGHING OF THE HEART – Screening
Binnie Sisters at Muddy Clearing Online
10 March 2020


MOONBUG
Released on Amazon Prime 2020


THE HUMAN FACE – Screening
Electric Palace Cinema Online
March 2020

2019
DANCE MACABRE – Screening
Kino Teatr UK
27 September 2019


I AM WEATHER – Screening
Kino Teatr UK
27 September 2019

ELIXIR – Screening
Last Thursday
Exploding Cinema
Printworks UK
29 August 2019

TOTAL SUPER 8 – Dream of a Chair – Screening
Hastings Film makers
Stade Open Space UK
6 July 2019


IM ON THE TRAIN – Screening
Hastings Film Makers
Stade Open Space UK
6 July 2019


MOONBUG – Screening
Lunar Exhibition
Wave of Dreams
Arts Lab UK – 16-30 July 2019.
19th & 27th July 2019.


MOONBUG – Screening
Beat Wave Frat Cave The Palace UK
21 July 2019.

MOONBUG – ScreeningElectric Palace Cinema UK Screening and Talk
20th July 2019.


DREAMS DREAMS DREAMS – Screening.
Exploding Cinema
Printworks UK
27 June 2019


FILMMAKERS AND WRITERS
Nichola Bruce with Pat McCabe and Brian Leyden.
Carrick on Shannon,
Leitrim
18 June 2019

2018
Jacqueline Stanley Extracts – Screening
As part of Exhibition at Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
3 October – 4 November
RHA Dublin


Echoes of the Kent Coast – Screening
10th November
A Time For Peace, Remembrance Concert ­ Mote Hall, Maidstone, Kent


Experiments Towards A Dance Macabre
8 September
Electric Palace
Hastings, UK


Axis of Light – Screening
1 September – 6 January 2019
New Work: Etel Adnan Exhibition
MOMA
San Francisco


I Could Read The Sky – Screening
21 – 26 August
Coote Hill Arts Festival
Ireland


Moonbug – Screening
25-29 April
Nordic Light Photography Festival
Caroline Cinema Centre
Kristiansund,
Norway


Gifts – Screening
13 April
Stanford University, USA

Drain – Screening
23 March
Water Week
Hailsham Pavilion

Perihelion
A short film drawing on Bruce’s extensive archive footage

Gifts
Film with artist Clare Whistler
Brings together English traditions of ritual and landscape

2017
 
Talk and Screening
1 November
Random Acts – Diorama
 
The Dream of The Chair 
15 September
Screening at Coastal Currents Arts Festval
Hand Me Down Super eight
Kino Theatre
St Leonards on Sea
 
I’m on the Train
8 September
Hastings Film Makers Night
Electric Palace Cinema
Hastings
 
Perihelion Screening at The Poets Cant
9 June
With Andrew Kotting and Nicholas Johnson
Electric Palace Cinema
Hastings
 
I Could Read The Sky screening
29 May
Glasgow Film Theatre 
Glasgow 
Scotland
 
Spark Ignition Random Acts
29 May
Talk and training session for Screen South 
Diorama Arts
London
 
GIFTS screened at Stanford University
12 April
Humanities House
Stanford University
Palo Alto, CA
USA
 
ELIXIR screened at Waterweek 4
26 March – 22 April
Gallery North, Hailsham
Panel Talk
12 March
 
Talent spotting at Random Acts Festival
ICA The Mall London
Panel Talk
15 March
 
Strangelove Festival
Silver Screen
Folkestone
 
Gifts 
5 February  Screened at Electric Palace, Hastings
 
PUSH opera
22 January Screened at Glyndebourne
28 January Screened at Battle Memorial Hall
 
Gifts
14 January 
Screened at Dhaka International Film Festival
Bangladesh National Museum , Shahbag
Bangladesh
 
 
2016

Gifts 
8 December
Screened at UTOPIA:2016
Somerset House, London WC1R
 
Perihelion
30 October 
Screened at Black Huts Festival  2016
 
Gifts 
25 October 
Screened at Battle Festival  2016
 
Gifts – Candle 
Installation as  part of Art in Romney Marsh
St Peter and St Paul Church, New Church
Romney Marsh, Kent, England
17/18/24/25 Sept 2016
1/2/8/9 Oct 2016
 
Up on the Downs Screening
Quarterhouse, Folkestone
10 Sept 2016
 
ART OF FILM
From 23 July 2016 Exhibit of drawings and posters from films past and present
including storyboards for The Company of Wolves (Muscle Films/Mike Coulson) and other film makers.
Electric Palace Cinema Hastings
 
Gifts 
8 June (work in progress)
Screened at Whitstable Biennale 2016
Whitstable/UK
 
I Could Read The Sky
8 June 
Screened at Whitstable Biennale 2016
Whitstable/UK
 
The Human Face
featuring Laurie Anderson
22 May  
Screened at The Brighton Festival Duke Theatre
 
Echoes From the Kent Coast, WWI
26/28 February 3/5 March 
Screened at Imperial War Museum Film Festival
 

2015
Echoes
Coastal Kent in WW1
Screen South Heritage

2014
Incantation
Short film Super eight

Elixir
Moving Image
Response to fathers death

Pale Shadows Feature drama opera
Based on Handel’s Alcina
In collaboration with Barefoot Opera
Co director with Sam Sharples

2013
SUC A dance macabre
Script and Drawings
Selected for Screen South Creative Business

2012
Apollo Remembered Exhibition at NASA, Huston, USA
With Photographer Steve Pyke MBE
Artist
Installations: Dust and First in –Last Out
Buzz Aldrin. Moving image portrait
Eugene Cernan. Moving image portrait
Moonbug documentary screened for two months

2011
Axis of Light Feature Documentary
Working with Pia Getty. Nichola wrote and co directed
8 Artists from the Middle East in response to conflict. The film featured Mona Hartoum, Mona Saudi, Shirin Neshat, Rachid Koraichi, Jananne Al Ani, Aymann Baalbaki, Etel Adnan, Youssef Nabil. It won best documentary in Madrid and a United Nations Award

2010
Sobras. Mobile Phone Narrative / I book App
Artist, Mobile Graphic Novel Nichola Bruce
Writer: Simon Ings
Sound + Programming: Will Pearson

Wave of Dreams Film Poem based on the writing of Louis Aragon
Camera/Director/Co Producer
Translation: Susan De Muth
Music: Tymon Dogg

Flayed Soul. Film Poem based on the poem by Claude Cahun
Camera /director/co producer
Translation: Susan De Muth
Courtesy Tate Publishing

Lifetime. Short drama
With Hugh Stoddart
Co director/co producer

Power to the Pixel Cross Media lab.
Selected for first Pixel Cross media residential aimed at 40 European media professionals with a strong track record in their sector, and has a particular focus on the creation, finance and distribution of cross-media properties to create sustainable European media businesses

2009-2010
Moonbug. Feature Documentary. DV. Colour 83. mins
Director/camera/writer/co-producer
Featuring photographer Steve Pyke. MBE
Apollo Pioneers
Eugene Kranz, Walter Cunningham, Wally Schirra,
Rusty Schweickhart, Buzz Aldrin, Richard Gordon
Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, Fred Haise,
Chris Kraft, Eugene Cernan.
Music: Matt Johnson
Screen South/ Film council /Baird Initiative

2009
July/Aug
Man on the Moon Exhibition.Independent Photographers Gallery
With Photographer Steve Pyke MBE
+ FASE
Artist
Dust, Installation Buzz Aldrin. Moving image portrait Eugene Cernan. Moving image portrait

November
Crossover Science Lab. 
Selected for First Cross over Science residential which explored the potential of digital media to make compelling experiences focused on the stories, discoveries, challenges and moral dilemmas emerging from science and scientific research in the 21st Century

2007-2010
Creative Partnership Residencies. Film commissions
Planet Kankana
Time Travel
Take 5. Selected for Take 5 initiative making film Create for Creative Partnerships

Exhibition at Hastings Arts Forum/ Brighton Lighthouse


2007
Rosebud III. Short film. Featuring artist Marcia Farquhar. Bruce + Marshall production
12 shooters include Zoë Brown, Bruce + Marshall, Jem Finer, Judith Goddard, Dryden Goodwin, Andrew Kötting, Trine Lise Nedreaas, Saskia Olde Wolbers, Uriel Orlow, Tom Paine, Sarah Pucill, Tal Sterngast and Gary Stevens
Arts Council

Screenings include South London Gallery/ Phoenix/ Lumiere/ Glasgow Tramway. A national tour of the work scheduled for 2010, includes events at Arnolfini (Bristol), The Bluecoat (Liverpool), Chapter (Cardiff), Colchester Arts Centre and Nottingham Contemporary
Rosebud III. Surreal House. Barbican screening. Sep 9th 2010
Whitechapel 2015

12 shooters book published by live art development agency

Selected for
Darklight. Women Direct Horror. Screen writing residential
Threshold/Skillset

2006 – and continuing to screen
Strangeness of Seeing 26 short films DV. colour, sound, 72 mins
Released one film every two weeks throughout 2010 on You tube

Lost the Plot. Installation screening Sept 2010
Installation as part of Transit station Copenhagen Danish Royal Academy Apr 2010
The Foundry. Installation, London 2009
London Film School screening Q+A Mar 08
Telegraph arts section web front page article July 25 07
Vertigo Magazine July Issue. 07
Projection Space Installation Shot by the Sea film festival. Hastings Castle Aug 07
Selection Herstmonceux Observatory Starlight festival. July 07
Selection Dazed and Confused Web site. Mar 07
Selection screened National Film Theatre. Optronica Fest. Simon Ings lecture. Mar 07
Selection screened at Locarno Film Festival Play Forward Section 2006

Exp.1 .After Images, Exp.2 Blink, Exp.3 Cry, Exp.4 Dream, Exp.5 Entoptic Visions, Exp.6 Floaters ( Muscae volitantes), Exp.7 Graphesthesia, Exp. 8 Hallucination, Exp.9 Illusion, Exp.10 .Just Popped out, Exp.11 Kinetic, Exp.12 Longsight/ShortSight, Exp.13.Memory, Exp.14.Nightmare, Exp.15.Optics, Exp.16.Perception, Exp.17.Qualia, Exp.18.Reflection, Exp.19.Sense Sight, Exp.20.Temporal Frequencies, Exp.21.Upside Down Vision, Exp.22.Visual Extensions, Exp.23.Wavelength, Exp.24.Xanthopsia, Exp.25.Young old, Exp.26.ZZZZZ Sleep
+ 10 Installation, and 90 artworks
Artist in collaboration with artist R E Marshall
Nesta/ Arts Council

2006/7
Escape lines for Exit no Exit
DVD, 2 screen projections, colour, 2×30 mins, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, Royal opera house UK tour, 06. Japan. UK tour, 07. Queen Elizabeth Hall South Bank
Touring 2008- 2015
Music: Michael Nyman
Director/camera


2002-2006
(awarded National Endowment of Science Technology and Arts Fellowship 2002-06
see Strangeness of Seeing 26 short films)

Other experimental works during this time include:
2004 Ian Breakwell at the De La Warr. DV, colour. Sound. Documentary short,
Director, camera, producer 2002 Moon Extract I DV, colour, sound, Single –Screen Installation. Brighton. Book and web. Artist, Acts of Memory 0.5 DV. sound, single screen. Experimental. H B Council. Artist 2001 Laugh DV, sound, colour, 1 min x 3. Experimental. 3 segments. Film 4. festivals worldwide Artist Acts of Memory I DV, colour, sound, experimental, S. E. Arts . Director, writer, camera. Corporeal Memory On death of grandmother Installation ESO3


2002/3
The Hybrid sci-fi horror feature script developed through Earthly Delights. Irish film board, Media, Arts Council. Only UK script selected for Rotterdam’s Cinemart.
Writer/director
Currently being developed as Graphic Novel (2015)


2001/2002
Dis Sci futuristic road movie into the mind of a teenage runaway, feature script developed through Hot Property. Film four
Writer
Currently being developed as Graphic Novel ( 2015)

Power to the Pixel .
DV. colour, sound, 30 min’s documentary. Ch4,
associate-director

1999
I Could Read The Sky
35mm + digital, colour, sound, 86 min’s, drama feature.
With Dermott Healy, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and Stephen Rae.
Sound track, Iarla O’Lionard. Music Distribution: Real World Music

Festival screenings inc Toronto, Berlin, Edinburgh, Cork Galway, Seattle, Bratislava, Telluride , Macedonia, Bruges, Rotterdam etc and various Theatrical and TV. Film
DVD Distribution: Artificial Eye
Director/screenplay writer

1998
South London Stinks
Destroy Exhibition, Festival Hall, South Bank

1997
Tight Roaring Circle
DV, colour, sound, Art Angel
Choreographers Bill Forsythe, Dana Caspersen
Director/camera

1996/97
The Monument
DV, colour, sound, 40 min, documentary, BBC arts/Arts Council
Featuring Rachel Whiteread
Director/camera/producer

1996
The Loved
16mm film. colour, sound, drama, BFI/CH4. Various festivals
Director

1995
The dramatic Art of Steven Berkoff
Video, 30 min colour sound, drama documentary, CH. 4 opened theatre Week
Director

‘O’ Made in Heaven
16mm + 35 mm colour, sound, 4 min, experimental music video Queen.
A feature film, including U.K.’s most innovative film makers.
Various festivals and opening of Venice film festival
Director

The Photo Show
6 episodes x 25 min, video, colour, sound, documentary, BBC
Series producer

1994
Hang on a Second
x 2 versions video, colour, sound, documentary, Ch.4. Taking a second off world clock.
Commissioned to appear before 6’o clock and evening news
Director/co-camera

La Difference,
Pride and Prejudice / Life and Leisure/ Manners and Morals/ Love and Sex
4 episode x 25 min, video, colour, sound, Ch 4
Series director

1993
Visual Co-ordinator for Peter Gabriel, setting up visual wing for REAL WORLD
Work involved co-ordinating and initiating, design, publicity merchandise for US album + Secret World Tour.
Commissioning 11 contemporary artists: Rebecca Horn, David Mach, Zadok Ben David, Andy Goldsworthy, Finbar Kelly, Zush, Jordan baseman, Bili Bidjocka, Ian Hughes, Yayoi Kusame, Mickael Bethe-Selassie.
Exhibition in UK and Japan.
Drawing Stage show concepts with Robert Le Page for World Tour.
Promotional films for album.
Helping initiate and develop ideas on many other Peter Gabriel related projects including interactive games, Xplorar1 and EVE.

Blood of Eden
35mm colour, sound, Music Video Peter Gabriel and Sinead O’Connor
co-director

Filming archive diary of Peter Gabriel and related events throughout this time

1992
Future Park, Barcelona
Video, colour, sound,. Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson, Peter Gabriel
Co-director

1990
The Human Face
35mm +16mm colour, sound, 60min, drama- documentary Arena BBC,
featuring Laurie Anderson
Co-director/co-writer/co-composer/co-producer

D and A D ward


1984
Wings of Death.
35mm Colour, sound, 19 min, Drama short. BFI.
General release with Nightmare on Elm St and Metropolis
Co-director/co-writer/co-composer

1983
Company of Wolves
Original Storyboard for Neil Jordan

1982
Plans and Conceits
Exhibition design and creation for Peter Greenaway
Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
Co ordinated by Mary Jane Walsh
BFI

Residency and Exhibition
Air Gallery
London

1981
Dream One aka Little Nemo
Story board and set drawings for Arnaud Selignac and John Borman

Photo Photo Photo
16mm, colour sound. Experimental fiction short film with Steve Pyke

Routine
16mm, B+W sound. Experimental fiction short film with Steve Pyke

1979
Einstein Centenary
Silk screen prints day glo series

1978
Clip
16mm, colour sound. experimental fiction film GLAArts, various festivals
Co-director/co- writer/co- camera/co-producer

1977
Boolean Procedure
16mm, colour, sound, experimental fiction film , GLAArts, various festivals
co-director, co-writer, co-camera, co-producer

South London Stinks
Punk Fanzine

1976
Breath of Air
16mm, colour, sound, experimental animation film , screened BBC christmas day
Co-director/co-writer/co-camera/co-producer

1974
Excuses
16mm, colour, sound, experimental mixed media film
Director/writer/camera