| Director: | David Schurmann |
| Cinematography: | Anthony Dod Mantle |
| Editing: | Teresa Font |
| Music: | Fernando Velázquez |
| Distributor: | Roadside Attractions |
| Runtime: | 97 minutes |
| Country: | Brazil United States |
| Language: | English |
| Gross: | $5 million[1] |
My Penguin Friend is a 2024 Brazilian-American family adventure film directed by David Schurmann, written by Paulina Lagudi Ulrich and Kristen Lazarian, and starring Jean Reno and Adriana Barraza. It is based on the true story of fisherman João Pereira de Souza and Dindim the penguin, which went viral in 2016.[2] It was first released in France on August 7, 2024, and was released in the United States on August 16, 2024. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics.
Brazilian Fisherman João Pereira de Souza discovers an injured penguin drifting alone in the ocean, near death and covered in oil from a spill. João rescues the animal and rehabilitates it, forging an unconventional lifelong friendship.[3]
On April 19, 2022, it was reported that Jonathan Lim had launched the American production company City Hill Arts,[4] and that their first film would be The Penguin & the Fisherman, to be directed by David Schurmann and starring Jean Reno.[2] The film was later retitled My Penguin Friend.[3] On October 14, 2022, it was reported that Adriana Barraza had joined the cast, as João's wife Maria.[5]
My Penguin Friend was filmed primarily on the tropical beaches of Brazil and amongst a colony of nearly a million penguins in Patagonia.[3] Production wrapped in February 2023, and post production took place in Madrid, Spain.[6]
The film was produced by Jonathan Lim, Robin Jonas, Steven P. Wegner, Andreas Wentz, Nicolas Veinberg, Shaked Berenson, and Patrick Ewald.[3] On February 15, 2024, it was announced that US distribution rights had been acquired by Roadside Attractions.[3]
The trailer was released on May 17, 2024. The film was first released in France on August 7, 2024, and was released in the United States on August 16, 2024.[7]
On August 11, 2024, TikTok user KindPenguins (@pudgykindness) posted a video in which he randomly joined the livestream of Twitch streamers with no live viewers. During this, he came across the livestream of producer Jonathan Lim. Lim went on to discuss his professional background and what led to him producing the film.[8] The video went viral, garnering thousands of comments and shares, 11.2 million likes and 58.2 million views, as of August 16, 2024.[9] It also brought Lim's personal TikTok account from less than 100,000 followers to over 1.3 million.[10]
In the United States and Canada, the film made $1 million from 1,083 theaters in its opening weekend.[11]
Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "There's something radical about the old-fashioned approach of My Penguin Friend. It's an earnest, crowd-pleasing family film – nothing snarky or self-referential, no on-the-nose needle drops - just a sweet, beautifully made movie that earns the emotion it'll surely draw from its viewers."[14]