Director Deborah Haywood poured experience of being bullied into new film

The director of acclaimed new film Pin Cushion has told how she drew on her experience of being bullied into her big-screen feature debut.

Starring Lily Newmark, Joanna Scanlan and Chanel Cresswell, Deborah Haywood’s new movie features a mother and daughter who turn to fantasy and lies after things do not go well for them in a new town.

The British director told BBC Breakfast: “It is quite personal. I was bullied at school. I have drawn on those experiences… emotionally.

“That took me into adulthood as well. I struggled with assertiveness.

“It is that loneliness, you feel like you’re the only one. You feel humiliated and full of shame.

“When I wrote this, I thought, ‘I’m not going to say it was based on anything I went through’ because I was still ashamed,” Haywood, who previously made short films, said.

“But I thought that’s not going to help anyone and open up the conversation. ”

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BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty said she had also experienced bullying, and had asked: “Did you get that feeling… that horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach, that loneliness and that shame?”

The film has been described as “very British”.

But the director and writer said she had been surprised by the interpretation, saying: “I didn’t want it to be identifiable. I wanted it to be like a fairytale book.”