Experiencing Interruptions?

Mercy

Amid the devastation of World War I, a wounded soldier encounters an unexpected lifeline — a mercy dog trained to seek out the injured left behind on the battlefield. Told with restraint and quiet observation, Mercy explores compassion in the most inhumane of places, asking whether kindness can endure when survival is no longer guaranteed.

  • Dean Bubello
    Director
  • Dean Bubello
    Writer
  • Dean Bubello
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 31 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 9, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    400 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Berlin Indie Shorts Festival
    Berlin
    Germany
    February 5, 2026
    Honorable Mention
Director Biography - Dean Bubello

Dean Bubello is a first-time filmmaker with a lifelong relationship to visual storytelling. A career designer and creative director, his work has always lived at the intersection of image, emotion, and narrative—shaping stories through composition, tone, and meaning long before stepping into the world of filmmaking. Film has been a constant influence throughout his life, not just as entertainment, but as a language: a way to explore humanity, memory, and connection.

Mercy marks Dean’s debut as a director and serves as both a short film and a proof-of-concept for the kind of stories he hopes to tell—quiet, emotionally grounded, and visually poetic. Drawing on his background in design, he approaches filmmaking with an emphasis on restraint, mood, and atmosphere. Though new to directing, his voice is rooted in decades of crafting experiences that move people—now expressed through the cinematic form.

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Director Statement

Mercy explores how compassion survives in environments designed to erase it. Inspired by historical accounts of mercy dogs used during World War I, the film focuses not on combat, but on what remains after it — love, connection, and compassion.

Using a restrained, observational approach and emerging cinematic tools, I wanted the film to feel intimate rather than epic. Mercy is less about history than it is about a timeless question: when everything around us collapses, what responsibility do we still have to one another?