No Mercy

"The truth is, women make the harsher films", cult director Kira Muratova once told young filmmaker Isa Willinger at the start of her career. Since then, Isa has wondered whether this could really be true, given that women tend to be associated with “empathetic" or "sensitive". In No Mercy, Isa Willinger sets out to meet some of the great women and nonbinary directors of our time, as well as the past. Filmmakers who indeed often tell stories of harsh realities, of humiliation and revenge. What do they have to say about violent characters, the depiction of rape, about trauma, power issues and ultimately the so-called female gaze?

No Mercy takes the audience on a journey into the exhilarating non-conformist filmmaking of women. Yet, film is also a mirror for real social issues.

So Isa’s question goes deeper: Where do we stand when it comes to gender and power – both on-screen and off?

Director Isa Willinger asks herself whether women’s filmmaking is characterized by a particular harshness. Inspired by Ukrainian director Kira Muratova, No Mercy interrogates power, violence, and representation as it blends history, criticism, and manifesto. With contributions from Céline Sciamma, Virginie Despentes, Nina Menkes, Catherine Breillat, Apolline Traoré, Joey Soloway, and more, the film is unapologetic, unflinching, and, fittingly, without mercy. - Ruth Somalo, DOC NYC