Finding Mercy

At the age of eight, filmmaker Robyn Paterson (white) and her best friend Mercy (black) greeted Comrade Robert Mugabe with flowers at a Zimbabwe air-force base. They became poster children of the new Zimbabwe. But the country was soon to descend into turmoil under Mugabe’s rule, and Paterson’s family was forced to flee to New Zealand. The documentary traces Paterson’s return to her birthplace a generation later, and a high-risk undercover search to find the fate of her childhood friend. Mercy won Paterson the Best Emerging Director Award at 2013 DocEdge Festival.

Whatever the result [of the search], the film shows a nation on its knees and the man who brought it there.

– Bess Mason, Good Weekend (The Dominion Post), 11 May 2013

Key Cast & Crew

Robyn Paterson

Director, Subject, Writer

Jacob Bryant

Cinematographer

Leanne Pooley

Producer

Tom Fox

Music

Marshall Smith

Composer

Marty Williams

Cinematographer