Donald Trump is threatening to sue movie theatres, reporters or anyone who repeats the allegations made in my new film You’ve Been Trumped Too? No surprise there. He threatened the BBC with the same before the broadcast of my first film, back in 2012. But what makes Trump’s latest threat all the more terrifying is that he could soon hold the keys to the White House. Can you imagine a world where the president of the United States was throwing around lawsuits just because he objected to what was printed or broadcast about him?

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Welcome to the world we could wake up to on 9 November if Trump becomes the most powerful man on the planet. And if the polls are to be believed, it’s a step closer to becoming a reality.

That’s why we as film-makers need to stand firm. We won’t be cowered by Trump’s legal threats and cyberbullying. That’s why we made You’ve Been Trumped Too available free to all voters in America on Thursday night ahead of its UK release. This is the film he doesn’t want you to see. And here’s why we think you should see it …

Ten years ago, when several residents whose homes are located on the picturesque sand dunes of Balmedie in Scotland refused to sell their land to Trump for his new luxury golf course resort, the billionaire began a campaign of bullying and intimidation that continues to this day. Most well-known among these residents is farmer Michael Forbes, whose modest croft sits right in the middle of where Trump wanted to build “the greatest golf course in the world”. Michael’s mother Molly (now aged 92) lives in a caravan across the farmyard from her son. The home has a handmade carved sign on it, reading “Paradise”. That was, until Trump arrived.

In 2010 I interviewed Michael Forbes on his fishing boat, and he mentioned in passing that they had no running water

Trump’s first attempt at being a great neighbour was to go on national television and slam the state of Michael Forbes’s farm. The farm was “a slum”, and Michael “lived like a pig”, fumed Trump. How could he possibly build his hotel for millionaires if the windows were to look out over “this horrible, horrible slum”?

The hotel was part of Trump’s master plan for the Menie estate’s shifting sand dunes that would create “6,000 jobs”, see the building of 1,500 houses and the construction of a skyscraper hotel. Trump promised to get “Aberdeen booming”. His claims were lapped up by local politicians, eager to find an economic wand to wave for when North Sea oil runs dry. No problem if the residents refused to sell. Next up was his threat of eminent domain – or under UK law, compulsory purchase.

So concerned was I at the lack of scrutiny of Trump’s plan and the devastating effect it would have on people and the rare sand dunes where he wanted to build his gated golf resort that I began making my film, You’ve Been Trumped.

In the summer of 2010 I interviewed Michael Forbes on his salmon-fishing boat, and he mentioned in passing that they had no running water. Trump’s workers had apparently cut through a pipe leading from the spring that serves the Forbes’s well. The result was that Michael, his wife Sheila and Michael’s mother, Molly, were without running water. This had been going on for a week. And what had Trump done about it? Nothing, according to the Forbes.

I went immediately to speak to the man in charge of Trump’s building work at the time to get the other side of the story. He confirmed that there was nobody trying to sort the problem out. He explained they had to “assess it first” so that it “would be a jewel of a system and sustain itself. It’ll be the best water system he’s ever had”.

A short time later I was arrested along with my producer Richard Phinney, and we were thrown into an Aberdeen police cell. There we sat for hours while the police – apparently acting as a private security force for Trump – dreamed up some ludicrous charge. The charges were eventually dropped, and the police issued an apology. But still the Forbes’s water supply ran dry.

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In the years that followed I went back to the Forbes’s house. I made another film in 2014 called A Dangerous Game, for which Trump granted me an on-camera interview about the residents’ plight. When I filmed that interview in early 2013, I had no idea that Molly was still without a proper working water supply. She is a private person, a former land girl (member of the Women’s Land Army) during the second world war, and used to hardship.

Throughout this extraordinary presidential campaign, countless articles have been written about the outrageous things that Donald Trump has said. But lesser known is what he has done. That’s why it’s so important for us to get You’ve Been Trumped Too out to US voters. It is a rare document of the impact on the lives of ordinary people of Trump’s actions.

Mexico-style border walls? Check. Mistreatment of women? Check. Failure to deliver on promises? Check. And as for the Forbes’s water? When Trump announced he was running for the presidency in the summer of 2015, I was dumbfounded to discover Molly was still collecting water from a nearby stream because her water supply wasn’t working “all because of Trump”. Now that was a story I couldn’t ignore.

• You’ve Been Trumped Too is released in UK cinemas on 4 November trumpedfilm.com