Filmmaker Gloria Mercer makes her feature-length directorial debut at the South by Southwest Film Festival 2026 with Safe Distance, an unconventional romance that subtly meditates on morality and what is right and wrong. The movie follows Alex (Bethany Brown), who, after a break-up with her boyfriend while camping, is left wounded and stranded in the woods. This is when Kianna (Tandia Mercedes) and Joey (Chris McNally) encounter her and help her recover at their campsite.
It becomes clear to Alex that there's something Kianna and Joey aren't telling her, and there's something she's not telling them. But even with these unspoken secrets, Alex and Kianna begin to form a connection that slowly builds tension in the trio's dynamic, threatening to explode at any moment.
The Direct sat down with Safe Distance stars Bethany Brown and Tandia Mercedes, alongside director Gloria Mercer, to discuss their exciting SXSW 2026 entry and why it'll stick with audiences. Safe Distance has no release date.
Safe Distance Is the Unconventional Romance You Didn't Know You Needed
"Each of Us Has Probably Been In Some Bad Relationships..."
- The Direct: "I like to see this film as an unconventional romance and love story. Can you guys talk about that aspect of the film? And how is it important to the story you're telling us?"
Gloria Mercer: It is a sort of an unconventional love story in that way. And I love that aspect of it. The reason that I wanted to make this film was that I had sort of had a couple of crappy relationships that left me feeling really stuck and incomplete. I think a lot of people have had experiences like that. And then working with the screenwriter Aidan West, he was just pitching this idea of sort of placing that in, like a genre context, and playing with the lovers on the run story. And so it was super fun to play with the ideas of freedom and genre, and then putting it as a story between these two ladies was great.
Bethany Brown: It was so fun to do a Bonnie and Clyde, [but] Bonnie and Bonnie. Working with Tandia and Gloria was just amazing in that regard. And obviously, like, running through a forest was really exciting.
Tandia Mercedes: And I definitely related to the writing in that, obviously, each of us has probably been in some bad relationships, but just the theme of feeling like an afterthought in a relationship, and then watching these two women essentially fall in love and also the archetype of the performative male is kind of in there, so that definitely adds to it. I think there's a lot to break down and absorb, for sure, given that the movie is almost entirely in the woods
How SXSW's Safe Distance Tackles Morality
"The Morality Thing Is a Bit Blurred Within the Film..."
- The Direct: "One of the key underlying themes in this movie is just the concept of morality. Can you guys all talk about that concept, and how this film discusses morality and why it is so important to everything happening?"
Gloria Mercer: I'll say a little bit. I mean, I think part of the point, I guess, not the point, but I think it was just really fun to play with expectations. I don't really want to leave a tiny answer about whether the actions of the film, which I will not say in detail, [and] who's right and who's wrong. I think it was really fun to just kind of go, at any given point, somebody might have a secret, and they all sort of do have things they're revealing or not revealing.
And then I think by the end of the film, I do think there's this sort of like moral ambiguity to Alex's actions, and all of their actions... They all do things that might not be very morally defensible. But also, I love this idea of freedom and the idea of women taking what they want and... certainly not apologizing for it. Obviously, it's a heightened film, and it's like in the genre space, but I think it's nice to see women take [their] space and not apologize, even if there's some complexity to it.
Bethany Brown: I think morality is such a difficult one, because you're like, 'Okay, so what is right and what is wrong then?' But when you look at each character's trajectory, say, Alex's trajectory, well, she was doing a lot of what's quote, unquote, right, but it was very damaging to herself.
And there wasn't this strong self-exploration or ability to step into her power until she started to do things that would be technically wrong. And so then I'm like, but is that innately wrong? Because she's practicing stepping into her power, which is beautiful, and trusting herself, and being assertive, which are all wonderful traits.
But then I think we can see, yeah, but used in certain ways, it can be wrong. And the other can also be wrong, like staying silent when you really should speak up or speak your boundaries. That can end up very wrong for you and for others. So I do think there is this flip-flopping morality, what is right and what is wrong, and it is something—Is a certain action always wrong, or is it really context-dependent or relationship-dependent?
Tandia Mercedes: I definitely agree that the morality thing is a bit blurred within the film, because certain things are obviously inherently bad, but we get to see so much growth through those exciting actions. And I think because women are very typically seen as putting what they want aside, to be the care, to be this mother figure, which is always usually seen as this really good thing.
Seeing women take what they want instead, and then being really happy with that, is huge. Because a lot of times, many people put what they want aside just to come off as good and moral. But they aren't necessarily happy in that space.
What Safe Distance Wanted To Achieve at the End of the Day
The Film Explores Contemporary Relationships and How Women Are Treated In Them.
- The Direct: "Gloria, when you first signed on to this film, [and] when you started putting this movie together, what would you say was your mission statement and what you really wanted to achieve with the final product?"
Gloria Mercer: I was really lucky because I didn't write this film. My partner, Aiden West, wrote it, but I was very involved in development, and so it was sort of a long development story of crafting the film together. Maybe this is like a cliché thing to say, but whenever I make films, I always want to sort of ask more questions than give answers to the audience...
What I would love is when people watch this film, I guess just that they maybe see some experiences they've had reflected back at them, sort of about contemporary relationships, and maybe they kind of asked themselves questions about how women are treated in relationships, and also, I particularly love depicting on screen, just like whether it's romantic or not, just the ways in which women sort of help each other... I hope people walk away asking questions about those dynamics and have a fun time.
- The Direct: "Bethany and Tandia, when you first started tackling these characters and kind of figuring them out, and how you were going to bring them to life through your performance, what would you say are like the core pillars of Alex and Kianna?"
Bethany Brown: I think for me, reading Alex, there's so much pensive silence. She thinks so much and often says so little. And so I think for me, it was doing as much as I could with the silences. And then I think the relationship with Kianna was really special, because she read the silences so clearly, whereas I think a lot of the male characters just felt like Alex wasn't answering, therefore there is no answer, or she doesn't know, whereas I felt Kianna really read the silence and either encourage and poked Alex to speak up and say more, or sort of this implied understanding of what those silences meant. And that was really intriguing to me, was to explore those silences.
Tandia Mercedes: And I feel like when I was exploring Kianna, she definitely has this tough outer shell. But with Alex, those walls kind of, can you start to see bits of Kianna's soft side, which is really nice. And I think Kianna sees herself a little bit in Alex, which is why she was able to get Alex to open up, I think, a little bit more and understand those silences some more.
