Cinemanse

COMPELLING NEW MOVIES AND CLASSICS

The Penguin Lessons

In spring 2025, author Anja Snellman curated a lineup of compelling new films for her local movie theater, Kino Konepaja in Helsinki.

The series ended in May with The Penguin Lessons, a month before its official premiere in Finland. Starring Steve Coogan, the movie is based on an autobiographical novel of the same name by Tom Michell.

COOGAN STARS as Tom, a somewhat jaded and cynical English teacher, who has moved to Argentina to teach at a boarding school.

One day, while on the coast of Uruguay, he rescues a penguin trapped in an oil slick. After cleaning the bird, he attempts to release it back into the sea—but the bird refuses to go.

LEFT WITH NO other option, Tom smuggles the bird across the border into Argentina, to the boarding school where he works.

The penguin—which he has named Juan Salvador—goes on to transform the lives of everyone he meets, especially Tom’s.

MORE MOVIES curated by Snellman will be shown at Kino Konepaja from May through July 2025.

Anja Snellman’s Cinema Classics is a series of five unforgettable movies, ending with Out of Africa on July 30, 2025.  Each screening will be followed by a discussion introduced by Snellman at the Kino Konepaja bar.