WEDNESDAY 19 NOV – H 21:00 – ROOM 3

THE SON AND THE SEA
UK, USA – 2025 – color – 102’

Direction: Stroma Cairns
Screenplay: Imogen West, Stroma Cairns
Cinematography: Ruben Woodin Dechamps
Editing: Sam Hodge, Andonis Trattos, Stroma Cairns
Production design: Cameron “Manny” McArthur
Music: Toydrum
Costumes: Mary-Jean Walsh
Cast: Jonah West (Jonah), Stanley Brock (Lee), Connor Tompkins (Charlie), Grant Lindsay (Sandy), Lewis Tompkins
(Luke), Billie Tompkins (Bobbie)
Producers: Imogen West, Kelly Peck in co-production with Lesley Stewart
Production: In The Company Of (Uk), Studio Cloy (Usa)
World Sales: MMM Film Sales

Synopsis
Living an extended adolescence of parties and poor decisions, London-based Jonah is beginning to feel unmoored. Secretly yearning for a reprieve from the city’s frantic energy and his hard-partying lifestyle, he convinces his best friend Lee to join him on a trip to the Scottish coast to visit his great-aunt, whose memory is fading. While staying in her small home tucked along the rugged shoreline, the pair meet Charlie, a Deaf man grappling with the fallout from his twin brother’s misdeeds. What begins as a chance encounter at the local pub slowly becomes something deeper, as the three young men form an initially tentative connection that opens the possibility for change. With rich cinematography and beautifully understated performances, The Son and the Sea avoids moralising or melodrama. Instead, Cairns lets the story unfold with a quiet authenticity, finding wonder in unlikely places.

 the director: STROMA CAIRNS
She went on to study Film at Falmouth University, graduating in 2014. During an internship at a commercials and music video production company, she tried her hand at directing music videos. In 2018, she directed a short documentary If You Knew, which premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest and win multiple awards, including a Jury’s Special Commendation at BFI London FF. A year later, Cairns made her tv debut directing an episode of Channel 4’s anthology series On The Edge. She then went on to direct half (three episodes) of the acclaimed BBC series Mood, winner of the BAFTA for Best Mini-Series in 2023. The Son and the Sea, developed with BBC FILM, premiered in the Discovery section of the Toronto FF.

 director’s statement
“The Son and The Sea is my debut feature and is deeply personal to me and my family. My mother and I wrote it together, and she produced the film, in which my brother Jonah plays the lead. The film is drawn from our family’s real-life experiences and, at times, blurs the boundary between fiction and non-fiction. It is a life-affirming coming-of-later-age film that explores themes of connection, grief, and male vulnerability. Running parallel to the story is the theme of deafness. I grew up with a moderate hearing loss, and although not profoundly Deaf, the experience of being the only student wearing hearing aids had a long-lasting effect on me. This feeling of shame also informed the reason behind wanting to make The Son and The Sea.
I hoped for a film that my teenage self would have found encouraging of her character and her life force, rather than believing her disability might define her in any way. The film also grew out of mine and my brother’s experience of having absent fathers. To say the process of making this film has been therapeutic would be an understatement. It’s had a profound emotional effect on me and brought a deep sense of connection to my family. My directing style has always been shaped by filmmakers who create deeply personal work, especially when it’s grounded in places and communities they are familiar with.
The film was shot on location in London and in the fishing town of Fraserburgh and Pennan village on the North East coast of Scotland (familiar to some as the setting of Local Hero). It was where my grandfather and his siblings were born and where I spent many summers.”

filmography
2018 If You Knew (short doc.)
2020 Sauna (segment of The Uncertain Kingdom, short)
2020 On the Edge (mini serie tv)
2022 Mood (mini serie tv)
2025 The Son and the Sea

festivals
2025 Toronto IFF – Discovery
2025 San Sebastian IFF – New Directors
2025 BFI London FF – Journey