Deborah Haywood’s debut feature tells the story of a peculiarly close relationship between a mother (Joanna Scanlan) and her daughter (Lily Newmark, the new face of Chanel). Lyn, a middle aged woman, lives in a fantasy world surrounded by warm, plush gadgets and clothes, her beloved cats, and sweaters she knits herself. Her teenage daughter Iona shares her dreams and fantasies but slowly starts to grow ashamed of these sensibilities. Her feelings of contempt escalate as she tries to be befriend a circle of mean girls at her high school. Lyn gets more and more lonely and, much like her daughter, makes clumsy attempts at making new acquaintances. Meanwhile Iona gets caught up in a vicious cycle of toxic school games and shifting alliances. Pin Cushion is based in a fairy-tale world, defined by the naiveté andvulnerability of its two main characters. Haywood harshly criticizes the vile and ruthless world of high school, showing not only its intolerance for Otherness, but also the cruelty of Iona’s school “friends.”