The Teacher Who Promised the Sea

The plot tracks the story of Catalan teacher Antoni Benaiges, destined in 1935 to a small village in the province of Burgos (introducing the innovative and inspiring teaching method according to Freinet from France among the children before being murdered by Falangists during the Civil War). It also relates the present-day story of Ariadna, seeking to find out what happened to her great-grandfather, who disappeared during the War.^{[2][3][4][n. 1]}

Written by Albert Val, the screenplay is an adaptation of the book by Francesc Escribano. The film is a Minoria Absoluta, Lastor Media, Filmax, and Mestres Films AIE production with the participation of RTVE and TV3 and backing from ICAA and ICEC.^[3][2] Shooting locations included Mura and Briviesca.^[5][8]

The film had its world premiere at the 68th Valladolid International Film Festival on 27 October 2023.^[9][10][11] Distributed by Filmax, it was released theatrically in Spain on 10 November 2023.^[12][13][14] It opened in only 83 screens, but the satisfactory box office performance (with a positive weekly change in the gross reportedly owing to the word of mouth) led to an increase in the number of screens up to 124.^[14] Distributed by Palace Films,^[15] it opened in Australian theatres on 26 July 2024 in 22 screens, eventually grossing $436,744.^[16] It was released theatrically in Italy on 19 September 2024 in 84 screens, likewise coming to gross €551,066.^[16]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 5 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10.^[17]

Ekaitz Ortega of HobbyConsolas rated the film with 73 points ('good') highlighting how it "has its own identity, it is not complacent and the two [lead] actors standing out", as the best things about it.^[18]

Enid Román Almansa of Cinemanía rated the film 4½ out of 5 stars underscoring "a very sad and terrible story, a very beautiful film".^[4]

Jason Blake of Limelight rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, deeming it to be "a powerful reminder that the scars of Spain's 20th century history are everywhere".^[19]

• List of Spanish films of 2023