“The First Look”, interview with director Luis E. Parés
Luis E. Parés, director on uncovering Spanish's past and defying oppression through art in "The First Look"
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“Conversation with” at the 20th Marrakech IFF, interview with actor Willem Dafoe Bénédicte Prot
“The Teacher Who Promised the Sea”, interview with director Patricia Font
Patricia Font, director, on "The Teacher Who Promised the Sea" and unearthing the past
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"The Teacher Who Promised the Sea", interview with director Patricia Font Sarah Bradbury
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.
Patricia 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.
Patricia 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.
Patricia 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.
Plot
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.
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