The Teacher Who Promised the Sea

In 1935, Antoni Benaiges (Enric Auquer) is appointed 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 until then been strict and traditional. But Benaiges takes a different approach. He brings a printing press and encourages the children to write about their dreams and ambitions. He also makes them a remarkable promise: one day, he will take them to see the sea—a world entirely unknown to them. Seventy-five years later, Ariadna (Laia Costa), the granddaughter of one of his students, uncovers 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, leads her to a mass grave in Burgos. There, she unravels the fate of Benaiges, whose ideals and progressive 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. Escribano, who also serves as a producer on the film, joins director Patricia Font in bringing to life this poignant story—one that speaks to the lasting wounds of the Spanish Civil War, while also paying tribute to a man who believed in the future of his students and a promise that, against all odds, endures.