At a mediation hearing, does the mediator want to know the facts of the case or is it their goal just to get each party to compromise ?

We are involved in a “nuisance per se” civil lawsuit. We have had one mediation session , the case evaluation meeting and one settlement conference. The judge made it very clear he does not want to hear the case and ordered everyone back to a second mediation session . The first mediation session was very frustrating as the mediator cancelled the meeting after 20 minutes claiming the other litigants had a two page list of demands. He would not tell us what their demands were. It was a total waste of time.