A new film — inspired by a true story — is bringing the heartwarming friendship of a fisherman and the penguin he rescues to theaters nationwide.
“This movie is about a Brazilian fisherman that encounters an Argentinian penguin all covered in oil and close to death,” Jonathan E. Lim, producer of “My Penguin Friend,” told Our Sunday Visitor. “They forge this unbelievable friendship that causes the penguin to swim thousands of miles every year to visit his fisherman friend.”
The family adventure stars international actor Jean Reno as João, a heartbroken fisherman who spots DinDim the penguin floating motionless in the ocean following an oil spill. After nursing his new feathered friend back to health, João discovers that he needed DinDim as much as DinDim needed him. The one hour, 37-minute movie, rated PG, infuses the story with lively music and breathtaking scenery. “My Penguin Friend” hits theaters Aug. 16.
“It’s just a beautiful sort of story that reminds us of the beauty of nature as well as God’s call for us to be wise stewards,” Lim, a Christian, told Our Sunday Visitor.
Lim expressed his enthusiasm for penguins and revealed that the movie stars real penguins. Of the scenes where a penguin appears, 80% feature live animals.
“I love penguins. Who doesn’t?” he commented.
Ten different penguins played the role of DinDim, he said. Because the filmmakers didn’t want to place any animals at risk, he added, about 5% of the shots are with animatronics and 15% show CGI or computer-generated imagery.
“What’s exciting is you’ll see penguins doing … all kinds of things that you never thought that you would see a live penguin doing,” he said. “More broadly, it’s really just a beautiful movie about friendship and stewardship.”
An organically faithful film
Several nods to faith appear in the film, including scenes of people praying together in church and even an image of what looks like the Blessed Virgin Mary hanging on the wall of João’s house.
“We really wanted to be authentic throughout the movie,” Lim said. “And we know that when we go through difficult times, people often turn to faith.”
The references to faith, he said, were not staged or artificial attempts.
“It really felt like a natural outgrowth of what João and Maria, his wife in the movie (played by Adriana Barraza), were going through,” Lim said.
“As a man of faith, I’m really pleased that those elements were in there because I know that during dark times, my faith is really what gets me through those turbulent periods,” he added. “It was really, I think, very gratifying to see that we could have those elements in the movie in a very natural, organic way.”
A filmmaker’s faith
Lim shared the role of his faith in deciding to produce and finance films.
“My faith has played a role in pretty much everything that I do now,” he said. “I like to say I’m a mission-driven entrepreneur, and so my goal is to help revitalize people, planet and perspective.”
Lim, a physician-turned-entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist and filmmaker, leads and supports endeavors in the health care and media and entertainment industries. In addition to serving as a film producer at City Hill Arts, a self-described mission-driven media company dedicated to inspiring family entertainment with impact, he also serves as chairman, CEO and co-founder of Erasca, which is dedicated to erasing cancer.
“All of that, whether it’s on the arts or on the sciences [side], is really just driven by that love of people and wanting to show God’s love,” Lim said.
Through City Hill Arts, Lim said he is engaging with film projects “that are really about ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” including people like João.
“They can be faith-based stories or they can be just stories where you can see the authenticity of the relationships and some of the transforming aspects of, different aspects of, love and kindness and friendship,” he said. “That’s really what led me to looking for inspiring projects like ‘My Penguin Friend.'”
Stewardship of creation
While speaking about the film, Lim addressed the importance of Christians’ role as stewards of creation.
“I think God calls us to be good stewards,” he said. “He calls us to work and he calls us to take care of this world and the inhabitants that are in it, including each other.”
He hoped that the movie inspired unity in today’s culture, which he said is marked by some division.
“We really wanted it to be sort of a call to unity and just to show the beauty of the world that we live in as well as the creatures that are in it,” he said, “and this relationship of friendship, love and kindness.”
A movie for everyone
Lim encouraged people to watch the movie in theaters, particularly on opening weekend.
“That will really support independent film producers like us, to be able to work on other projects like this,” he stressed. “And it really is just a beautiful experience to be in the theater with your family, with your friends, experiencing the same thing, and then talking about it afterwards.”
He hoped that audiences of diverse backgrounds would watch the movie and, in particular, families.
“When we had our three young kids, there would be trade-offs that we’d have to make when we went to the movies,” he said of his own family. “It would either be movies for kids or movies for adults — and there was rarely something that really resonated with all five of us.”
“I think ‘My Penguin Friend,'” he concluded, “is one of those movies that, whether you’re eight or 80, there’s something for everyone.”
