The world needs more feel-good stories like this one.
My Penguin Friend is a family friendly movie about an extraordinary bond between a man and a penguin, co-presented by the Shuswap Film Society and Salmar Cinemas. It’s loosely based on the incredible true story of a Magellanic penguin that visited the same man at the same time of year on the same beach for years.
Joao is a broken person, a man long haunted by an awful tragedy. In 2011, fate brings him the most unlikely companion when he finds a penguin, oil-covered and near death, on the Brazilian beach. He takes the bird home to nurse him until he can be released back into the ocean. He assures his wife it won’t take long, but a week turns into more weeks and soon the lovable and amusing bird has a name (Dindim) and has become a bit of a celebrity in the community, as he follows Joao up and down the beach and even into town. After years of sadness, Joao starts to feel joy.
But then one day Dindim is gone. Magellanic penguins migrate and we travel the perilous ocean with him as he undertakes his yearly 5,000 mile journey from Brazil to his breeding grounds in Patagonia, Argentina. Joao assumes he’ll never see Dindim again but, to his and others' surprise, for eight straight years the penguin repays Joao by making the long trip back to visit him at the seaside shack Dindim considers his part-time home.
My Penguin Friend is a glorious tale about the ocean-crossing loyalty of a remarkable penguin and a unique friendship that heals a family. It plays 4 times this weekend: Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 and Sunday at 4:00 at the Classic.
