Mighty Penguins

Mighty Penguins is a 2023 sports documentary film about an amateur football team Brentford Penguins, consisting of players with Down's Syndrome, established by former Brentford player Allan Cockram in London, in 2017. The film premiered at the Tribeca Festival in 2023.

Mighty Penguins
Directed by	Louis Myles Ahmed Twaij
Produced by	Louis Myles Ahmed Twaij
Starring	Allan Cockram
Cinematography	Steve Middleditch Will Billany
Edited by	Steve Williams
Production companies	Fever Media Meadowlark Media Firelight Media Inc It Was All a Dream Productions
Release date	10 June 2023 (2023-06-10) (Tribeca)
Running time	33 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Cast

• Allan Cockram
• Special K
• Peanut
• Captain Charlie

Production

The film is part of a wider series called Sports Explains the World, executive produced by John Skipper for Meadowlark Media.^[2][3]

Allan Cockram, who founded the Brentford Penguins in 2017, told Talksport that he received a phone call from producer/director Louis Myles which he thought “was a wind-up at first” about making a documentary about the club and the players.^[4] It was co-produced and co-directed by Ahmed Twaij, and produced by All a Dream Productions and Firelight Media.^[5]

Release

The film had its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2023.^[6]

Reception

Donald McRae in The Guardian described the film as directed “with a light touch” by Louis Myles and Ahmed Twaij. At a BFI Southbank screening Mark Kermode described the film as “utterly remarkable and utterly life-affirming”.^[7]

Following the release of the film, former footballer David Beckham, and his son Romeo, met the Mighty Penguins team in September 2023, and presented Cockram with an Who Cares Wins Unsung Hero Award from The Sun newspaper.^[8]