Potato Peel Pie film is a tear-jerker for Occupation survivors

The film, based on the book of the same name, was inspired by Guernsey under Nazi rule and is not released in the UK until 20 April.

The matinee performance at the Mallard was organised at the request of older people who found the Beau Sejour showing was too late in the evening.

The tickets for the showing, which was full, were allocated with the help of VisitGuernsey and island tour guides.

Producer Paula Mazur and co-writer Annie Barrows appeared on stage at the beginning for a Q&A session about the making of the film.

Mother and daughter Paulette Tapp, 86, and Michelle Kohlschein, said after the screening that the film was ‘definitely a tear-jerker’.

‘I moved to Guernsey when I was three. I went away but my family were here and I know it was bad. They didn’t show that so much in the film. It was a tear-jerker though, my daughter had mascara running down her face,’ said Mrs Tapp.

Also in attendance was June Money, 80, who wore her gold medal, which was presented to children who stayed on the island during the war.

‘I thought it was fantastic, you had to look at it as a fictional love story. Although it wasn’t filmed on the island that wouldn’t have been a problem for people watching from off-island.

‘It’s always going to be a very sensitive topic, but it was also sensitively done. I found it a bit weepy, it took me back quite a bit. I would say to anyone that they should go and watch it,’ she said.

Tour guide and author Fred Gallienne, 86, was a child in Guernsey at the time of the Occupation.

‘It’s a very good film, I think people are going to enjoy it. We all had different ideas about what it was like but what they did was well-researched.

Speaking about the scene involving the slaughter of a pig, he said: ‘Although I never had a pig, a few people did. It was against the law as it made too much noise when it was killed.’