My guest today is Hedda Mjøen, a writer and director from Oslo, Norway. She is known for confronting controversial and ethically charged subjects in her work, from racism and religion to sexual violence and mental illness.

With her Oscar-qualified short MERCY, she does not offer easy answers but instead challenges audiences to step into Guro’s shoes, leaving them with lingering questions about instinct, conscience, and moral uncertainty. That is the piercing question at the heart of MERCY.

The film premiered at the 48th Norwegian Short Film Festival, where it won the Oscar-qualifying Best Norwegian Short Award, propelling it into the conversation for the 98th Academy Awards.

Ladies and gentlemen, Hedda Mjøen’s MERCY is about a chance encounter in a supermarket with Guro, a woman who sees her estranged best friend Petter, who stands accused of rape. Guro is thrust into a harrowing moral dilemma: should she stand by him, risking her own reputation and sense of self, or sever the tie, abandoning someone she once trusted most?

The film’s stark, unflinching narrative examines the fragile line between loyalty and judgment, forcing audiences to wrestle with uncomfortable questions about friendship, stigma, and how quickly trust fractures under accusation.

Hedda puts the audience in the middle of what would you sacrifice. Your reputation? Your Beliefs, Your closest bond? What would you do when you’re confronted with a friend accused of an unforgivable crime? Hedda wrote and directed a perfect story.

This is the first time someone was bold enough to bring a story like this one to life on film. I have the same mindset to look at both sides, but we become rare individuals in today’s society when everyone is choosing sides without knowing all the facts.

The camera work and cinematography of MERCY places us into each of the character’s mindset. We are watching our own thoughts come into view through each one in the film. We feel the confusion, the uneasy feeling, the anger, the grace, the feeling of trying to be subjective when everyone else is yelling to get their point of view across to the others.

MERCY is pronounced as Nåde in Norwegian, but in any language this film is superb filmmaking. And no wonder it is Oscar-qualified.

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