The human obsession with science has been a central pillar of sci-fi narratives since the genre’s conception, and in this, we see distortions of nature develop in ways conceived to expand human potential – should their outcome only be as anticipated. Through the documented successes and failures of experimental science on film, exploring the untapped possibilities of DNA tampering rarely comes without a cost, the metamorphoses and often-catastrophic consequences giving way to memorable cinematic moments.

Nominated for the X Award at Tribeca Film Festival 2022, Czech writer and director Eva Vik explores the possibilities of interspecies development in short film Serpentine, starring Barbara Palvin, Soo Joo Park, and Luke Brandon Field. Set within a mysterious snake cult, the stylistic body-horror follows attempts to initiate a snake-human hybrid through genetic engineering – creating an extraterrestrial higher power intelligence as a new influential force.

Named among Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in 2021, Vik approaches Serpentine with an emphasis on the surreal, setting the action against grandiose modernist architecture, and saturated with an emerald glow. As an ambassador for the White Ribbon campaign, a global movement working to end violence against women and children, she employs the film to visualize a new path to empowerment within a fictitious future – exploring the folkloric symbolism of the snake, and inviting speculation on how harnessing its associations might impact the human race. As the elusive figure governing the operation plots the exploitation of Planet Earth, beginning with the rebirth of its nation, Serpentine ponders the uncertainty attached to advancements in genetic science, creating a cinematic allegory for fear of the unknown in a not-so-distant future.