20th Anniversary Edition – 16th Catalan Window

EL MAESTRO QUE PROMETIO EL MAR

The Teacher Who Promised the Sea
Ciné Lumière I

UK premiere

£15, conc. £13

Followed by a Q&A with the director and film critic and author Dr. Mar Diestro-Dópido

dir. Patricia Font
with Enric Auquer, Laia Costa, Luisa Gavasa

Spain | 2023 | 105 min | cert. PG
In Spanish and Catalan with English subtitles

Ariadna discovers that her grandfather has long been searching for the remains of his father, who disappeared during the Spanish Civil War. Determined to help him, she travels to Burgos, where a mass grave is being exhumated and where he could possibly be buried. During her stay in Burgos she will learn the story of Antoni Benaiges, a young teacher from Tarragona who was her grandfather’s schoolmaster before the war. Using an innovative pedagogical method that involved producing small publications, Antoni inspired his students and made them a promise: he would take them to see the sea. Based on a book by Francesc Escribano, which in turn is based on real events, Patricia Font’s second feature film is a moving story led by two outstanding actors and weaving memory, loss and the tragedies of the Spanish Civil War.