NO MERCY

NO MERCY gets right to the heart of today's burning issues: Where do we really stand in terms of power, gender and freedom – in cinema as in life? For her radical assessment, filmmaker Isa Willinger brings together some of the most important female directors of our time.

Never before have female directors been seen so openly and closely on screen. NO MERCY is relentlessly honest, surprisingly humorous, provocative and challenging – and above all, a great cinema experience.

A film that inspires and stirs. A manifesto for a new way of seeing.

Real Fiction is releasing NO MERCY on 5 March 2026. In Berlin, you can see the film on Tuesday, 3 March 2026, at 8 p.m. at the Passage Kino. The director will introduce him personally, followed by a discussion with the audience.


The documentary by award-winning director Isa Willinger takes us on a cinematic journey to some of the great female directors of our time, who have explored topics such as sex, power and violence with a blunt gaze. NO MERCY opens up the world of exciting, non-conformist filmmaking by women to the audience. But films are also a mirror of real conditions.

That's why the question NO MERCY asks goes deeper: Where do we really stand today in terms of women, men and power – inside and outside the cinema? Answers to Isa Willinger's questions are provided by iconic directors, newcomers and radical thought leaders.


Written and directed by Isa Willinger


The protagonists in the film:
Ana Lily, Catherine Breillat, Jackie Buet, Margit Czenki, Virginie Despentes, Alice Diop, Valie Export, Nina Menkes, Marzieh Meshkini, Mouly Surya, Céline Sciamma, Joey Soloway, Monika Treut, Apolline Traoré.


SYNOPSIS:

NO MERCY is a cinematic liberation. An energetic, wild trip through the revolutionary filmmaking of women – direct, sensual, uncomfortable and full of power.

Films show how we live. NO MERCY gets right to the heart of today's burning questions: Where do we really stand in terms of power, gender and freedom – in cinema as in life? For her radical assessment, filmmaker Isa Willinger brings together some of the most important female directors of our time: Céline Sciamma, Alice Diop, Joey Soloway, Nina Menkes, Valie Export, Catherine Breillat and Virginie Despentes are pioneering female filmmakers* who are entering into a joint, intimate dialogue for the first time – about their art, their anger, their vulnerability and the images that shape our world. Inspired by director Kira Muratova's observation that women actually make the harder films, they talk about sex and violence, humiliation and revenge, trauma and lust, tenderness and poetics, and the much-discussed female gaze.


(Language: German)