"The Teacher Who Promised the Sea", interview with director Patricia Font

Fred Film Radio heard from director Patricia Font about her movie "The Teacher Who Promised the Sea" ("El maestro que prometió el mar"), adapted from a book by Francesc Escribano, presented on the penultimate night of the 2024 London Spanish Film Festival. Font explained that although there are many films dealing with the Spanish Civil War, few delve into the ongoing search of many families for the remains of their loved ones who disappeared during this time. A beautifully made and moving feature, Font shared how she juxtaposed and contrasted a fictional present with a reconstruction of the past, with a protagonist in the current day, Ariadna, searching for her great-grandfather who went missing during the War (played by the ever-excellent Laia Costa), providing a conduit to the historical era. While contemporary scenes are overshadowed by the weight of intergenerational wounds, trauma and death, the past is filled with colour, dynamism and life, the charisma of the titular teacher emanating from Enric Auquer off the screen. Font talked through the way the few but shocking moments of violence are depicted, keeping the brutality of torture itself as implied rather than detailed, and the decision to end on a realistic yet poignant ending, letting the poetic words of one teacher's students hang in the air. Font emphasised the importance of unearthing lost stories such as that of Antoni Benaiges as a way of keeping their memory alive and to help heal the wounds that remain in families and Spanish society more broadly as result of the horrors of history.