New Canaan Country School Screens Alumni’s Penguin Documentary

From New Canaan Country School: New Canaan Country School welcomed back to campus filmmaker and alumnus from the class of 1980, Lloyd Fales, who screened his film Return to Penguin City and answered questions at an assembly held for Middle and Upper School students, Monday, April 16.

The National Science Foundation-funded documentary, which originally aired on Animal Planet, follows millions of Adelie penguins as they storm the beaches of Antarctica during their annual October migration to breeding grounds. For over half a century, researchers such as David Ainley, Grant Ballard and Viola Toniolo have been trying to unlock the secrets of penguins’ lives. The documentary provides a glimpse into the lives of these extraordinary birds – braving fierce storms, outsmarting predators and scaling rogue icebergs – along with the scientists who study them. The filmmakers were also able to document the effects of a giant iceberg (bigger than the island of Jamaica) breaking off the Ross Ice Shelf, a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly more commonplace, but which is rarely witnessed or documented.

Mr. Fales, a childhood resident of New Canaan, was the film’s producer and one of its photographers, spending a month in Antarctica, visiting three different penguin colonies. He currently works as an Executive Producer at NBC News’ Peacock Productions.

New Canaan Country School is a co-ed, independent day school for students in Pre-K (ages 3 & 4) through Grade 9. Located on a 75-acre campus in New Canaan, the school provides transportation to families living throughout Westchester and Fairfield counties. For more information about the school, please visit: www.countryschool.net.

Photo: Lloyd Fales ’80, filmmaker, writer and producer