Inside the heart of a bully is someone surprisingly timid and insecure, says former South-East cop and now film-maker Damien Howard.
His short film Bully casts twins Kimberley and Coralie Heberley, movingly exploring the dynamic of bully and victim.
As the schoolgirl looks in the mirror, she worries about what people think of her.
Her bully tells her: “You see the same disgusting girl that doesn’t matter to anyone.”
But in the end, what is being artfully portrayed is the bully’s own destructive self-criticism.
As writer, producer and director, Mr Howard has packed plenty of intensity and insight into just five minutes of screen-time.
“The film is to show the other side to the bully and why she behaves the way she does,” Mr Howard said at the launch on 14 November.
“They won’t see that bully as a tough person – they’re often more insecure than their victims.”
Mr Howard has submitted the film to Sundance, Tribeca, Flickerfest and Byron Bay international film festivals.
He hopes it will find a place at schools, as a powerful learning for students.
With the rise of social media, the extremity of bullying is rising as a damaging social problem, Mr Howard.
He was particularly resolved upon the suicide of a 14-year-old teen – known as a Akubra hat model – who had been plagued by cyberbullying.
“It’s just rampant and it starts at a very young age. And the bullies at school go on to be bullies in the workplace.”
Sisters Kimberley and Coralie deliver a viscerally powerful confrontation on film.
Away from the camera, they say the film will help broaden understanding of bullying’s grey areas.
Coralie, a teacher in WA, says the spotlight on bullying is growing.
“It’s like when you squeeze an orange and juice comes out – when someone is bullying, the anger they have inside them is what they’re projecting on someone else.
“They’re doing it because of so many things in that life.”
Kimberley says she liked Mr Howard’s sensitivity in dealing with a vexed topic.
“It shows there are struggles between different sides of you – you can give into the bully side or we can do something about it.”
Coralie said bullying was deeply rooted in society at every level, often implicitly so.
“No one wants to be the mean one. No one thinks of themselves as a bully.
“So the question is why? What brought them to that place?”
