‘My Penguin Friend’ Hits Theaters, Counts San Diego Biotech CEO As Producers – San Diego Union-Tribune

A friendship that blossomed between a fisherman and a penguin rescued off the coast of Rio de Janeiro has gone from social media sensation to heartwarming movie in a new version, My Penguin Friend.

Debuting in theaters on August 16 and slated for wider distribution to global audiences soon after, the film stars international stars Jean Reno and Adriana Barraza and Carmel Valley resident Jonathan Lim among the producers.

Inspired by true events that went viral in March 2016, My Penguin Friend follows the story of a heartbroken fisherman, João Pereira (Reno), who rediscovers happiness through a special bond he forms with a penguin he rescued from a nearby oil spill. Viewers can watch the friendship between Pereira and the Magellanic penguin, “Dindim,” unfold over the years as Dindim travels thousands of miles to return to the one who nursed him back to health.

Whether it was deciding the location of the set or going through 20 rewrites of the script, Lim said he wanted to capture the true essence of the story. For Lim, attention to script authenticity was an important standard that he maintained at every stage of his production.

“Originally we were going to shoot this in the Canary Islands because there was a very attractive tax incentive there and the location was great with a lot of ecosystems on that island. But unfortunately, we found out that the penguins in the Canary Islands were Humboldt penguins and Dindim is a Magellanic penguin,” Lim said in an Aug. 6 Q&A session with the Cinema Society of San Diego.

“It’s a line that separates the Humboldt from the Magellanic, but for me, the authenticity of the real penguin species was very important, and sitting here in public wouldn’t have felt right if I was looking at a Humboldt penguin. So it was back to the drawing board and we decided to pivot and go where the real penguins were.”

Ten rescue penguins from Ubatuba, Brazil, played the role of Dimdim, with two being pulled because they “fell hopelessly in love” on set, according to Lim. The filmmakers worked with the organization The Movies Animals Protected to look after the penguins on and off set.

Through a combination of handycams and fisheye lenses, “Slumdog Millionaire” cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle created shots from the penguin’s point of view to allow audiences to experience parts of the film through Dindim’s eyes. Lin said at the Cinema Society screening at Reading Cinemas Town Square that 80% of the film’s scenes were shot with real penguins, while 15% were CGI and 5% used animatronics.

University City resident Micki Papini attended the screening as a guest, joining her friends at the Cinema Society of San Diego, a membership-based organization dedicated to coordinating local film events since 1984. She personally felt a connection with the character of Pereira as someone. who suffered a great loss and was deeply moved by the way the film portrayed his journey to healing.

“I liked it. My nephew, he recently passed away and he actually worked at SeaWorld with the penguins. He fed them and took care of them, so it touched me,” Papini said through tears. “I couldn’t have asked for a better movie.”

Lim calls himself a “biotech CEO by day and filmmaker by night,” balancing his two lifelong passions of science and the arts. He said being a philanthropist continues to drive his chosen career — whether it’s fighting cancer as CEO of Erasca or “revitalizing people, planet and perspective” through storytelling at City Hill Arts. As a producer, he hopes to highlight ordinary people doing extraordinary things to fill audiences around the world with hope, love and inspiration.

“In this film, the theme is how love, kindness and friendship have the power to transform this broken family, and by extension, people get the idea that those values ​​have the power to change the world we live in,” Lim said. “This is a story centered around that theme of love and kindness and friendship, but also stewardship. That we have a responsibility to be wise stewards of this beautiful planet we live on and also of its inhabitants, including each other and the animals that live here.”

“MY PENGUIN FRIEND”

Rating: p

When: It opens on August 16

Where: Wide release

Running time: 97 minutes

Originally published: August 13, 2024 at 11:05 am