Film alumna and BAFTA winner takes her debut feature film to the festival circuit
17 February 2026
After seeing her film featured at Toronto International Film Festival, San Sebastián Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival in autumn last year, BA(Hons) Film alumna and BAFTA winner Stroma Cairns is preparing to have her debut feature, The Son and The Sea, screened at the Glasgow Film Festival next month, as it returns to its home country where filming took place.
The Son and the Sea is Stroma’s latest work and follows the story of two men who take a trip to the Northeast coast of Scotland, where they discover the joy that can be found despite loss. The film has been described as a tender, coming-of-age drama that is a “tremendously naturalistic work” and a “film of hope and positivity” by the BFI’s Executive Director for Public Programmes and Audiences, Jason Wood, and is a film that received a nomination for Breakthrough Performance at the 2025 British Independent Film Awards.
Now, Stroma brings her learnings from a career in film to the lecture theatres of Falmouth, where this week she returns to the School of Film & Television, sharing her insight into filmmaking and the journey she has been on since graduating with Falmouth's current students.
We caught up with the BAFTA winner to learn more about what inspired her debut, how it has felt to see her film recognised at world-renowned film festivals and how Falmouth was the place where it all started.
The Son and the Sea made its UK premiere at BFI London Film Festival in October after its screening at Toronto and San Sabastián Film Festival. What has it meant to see your film recognised and celebrated in this way?
It’s been so lovely. When we were making the film, I really hoped it would resonate with audiences and it’s been such an affirming, and at times emotional, experience meeting people at festival Q&As and hearing people speak about the film. Knowing that it resonates and moves people, and that there’s a sense of involvement and connection in the experience of watching the film, is exactly what we hoped for.
What story did you hope to tell with The Son and the Sea and what inspired you to make the film?
I hope the film conveys how meaningful connection is, both to oneself and others. Our story is about the importance of connection for young men in particular, and also a film about finding joy despite loss.
There were several threads that came together as inspiration for this film. One was my short 2019 documentary IF YOU KNEW which follows twin teenage brothers who are profoundly deaf. That project evolved from a desire to explore my own hearing loss and wanting to see deaf characters on screen seen for who they are as people, without focusing on their disability. It was my co-writer and mother Imogen’s idea that I cast the twins in a feature.
Another was my brother Jonah West and his best mate Stanley Brock. I’ve filmed them both over the years, for my own projects and for theirs; I love capturing them on camera. They have a joyous and authentic energy that is so infectious. I love them dearly.
Then there was the personal experience of the significance of fathers, particularly in a boy’s life. I wanted to explore how that guiding force is a foundation in the shaping of young men for good or not, and the follow through impact that has.
All these threads naturally wove themselves together. Imogen wanted to set the film in Pennan, Aberdeenshire, where her father, and my grandfather, was born and raised. I spent many summers there in my childhood, staying in my great aunt’s shed, which was the same one we shot in the film. It is a very special place for all of us.
How did your time studying BA(Hons) Film at Falmouth help to set you up for a career in film?
Directing my third-year film STYLE BROKERS in 2014 was a great help in setting up my directing career. Once I graduated, I had the film to show people, and a London screening got me in the door of a commercial production company. That led to me directing music videos, which kickstarted my career.
Falmouth is also where I wrote my first short screenplay; I fell in love with the screenwriting module and really gained confidence in myself and my writing. I learnt how to structure scripts and use Final Draft screenwriting software, which are skills I still use today. Overall, my time studying the BA(Hons) Film course cemented my vision and drive to be a storyteller and director. Whether it was watching films I had never seen before or analysing my favourites, I was inspired and that was an exciting feeling for me; it is one that drove me on to be a director.
What else have you been up to recently?
I’ve been busy attending film festivals; our next one will be the Scottish premier at Glasgow Film Festival on Saturday 7 March. It will be a special screening as our Scottish family, and some crew, will be seeing the film for the first time. I’m also writing and developing my next projects, which will all be produced by our family production company IN THE COMPANY OF.
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