The Teacher Who Promised the Sea

In 1935, Antoni Benaiges (Enric Auquer) is hired as a teacher in a small, remote village in Burgos, Spain. His class consists of boys and girls aged six to twelve, for whom education had been strict and traditional until then. But Benaiges does things differently. He brings along a printing press and has them write about their dreams and ambitions. He also makes a special promise: one day he will take them to see the sea – a world they have never seen before. Seventy-five years later, Ariadna (Laia Costa), the granddaughter of one of his students, discovers the moving and forgotten story behind that promise. Her search for the remains of her great-grandfather, one of the many who ‘disappeared’ during the Spanish Civil War, takes her to a mass grave in Burgos. There she unravels the fate of Benaiges, whose ideals and innovative teaching methods made him a target. The Teacher Who Promised the Sea is a powerful historical drama based on the true story of Antoni Benaiges (1903-1936) and the novel El maestro que prometió el mar by Francesc Escribano. In addition to being the author of the book, Escribano is also associated with the film as a producer. Together with director Patricia Font, he brings a compelling film about the pain that is still palpable in Spanish society, but also a tribute to a man who believed in the future of his students and a promise that, despite everything, lives on.