‘Mighty Penguins’ documentary tells story of football team with challenges of Down syndrome

For many, it is difficult to imagine living with Down syndrome, its challenges as well as its beauties, but “Mighty Penguins” is a film that achieves exactly that.

It gives you a glimpse into such a world and what we find is one filled with passion, love and emotional intelligence, but also complicated by hardships and prejudice.

This weekend, the film sees its premiere at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Using the story of the Brentford Penguins, a football team in West London for children with Down syndrome, “Mighty Penguins” challenges our preconceptions of the condition.

It is a film I co-directed and co-produced — It Was All a Dream Productions — with Louis Myles, a British-Irish filmmaker from Fever Media, who recently won the coveted Best Documentary award at the AIPS Awards. “Mighty Penguins” is part of a series produced by John Skipper’s Meadowlark Media and Firelight Media, titled “Sports Explains the World.”

By taking you in to the world through the lens of a child with Down syndrome, “Mighty Penguins” allows you to explore life free of the prejudices that come with adulthood. The film is filled with laughs and tears as the emotional human story is told.

Affectionately titled the Brentford Penguins, the soccer team for children with Down syndrome was created by Allan Cockram, a former professional footballer for Brentford Football Club.

Allan was a Jack the Lad-type footballer in the 1980s. Brentford FC’s supporters all related to his down-to-earth shenanigans and adored him. Famed for his mullet, or “flowing locks” as he lovingly refers to his formerly long hair, Allan struggled after retiring from the sport. The income for footballers in the lower English leagues at the time was not