Dolphin Lover

A critically acclaimed, award winning short documentary on the incredible true story of Malcolm Brenner and his summer long love affair with Dolly the dolphin.
Dolphin Lover 1

Description

Set in 1971 on the Southwest coast of Florida, Dolphin Lover tells the incredible true story of Malcolm Brenner, a college student who lands his first professional gig as a freelancer photographing the marine animals at Floridaland, a tourist trap disguised as a roadside amusement park.  The experience would launch Malcolm’s career as a photographer and introduce him to his one true love while changing his life forever.  Dolphin Lover tells the incredibly true story of Malcolm Brenner’s year-long romantic and sexual love affair with Dolly, a captive bottlenose dolphin.

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Project Details

Runtime 15 minutes

Year 2015

Film by Kareem Tabsch & Joey Daoud

 

What’s most striking about “Dolphin Lover” is the way it manages to navigate the story’s bizarre emotional twists and turns while keeping a straight face and remaining free from moral judgment.

 

Emma Myers, IndieWIRE

 

Press & Interviews

Fusion

New documentary tells the story of a man who had sex with a dolphin

The Telegraph

Sundance Film Festival 2015: was it all about sex?

From The D-Train, to Hot Girls Wanted, to Slamdance’s Dolphin Lover: was this year all about sex?

Miami New Times

Meet the Men Behind the Provocative Short Film Dolphin Lover

Stills

More available in EPK below

Press Kit

Download high res stills, posters, synopsis, and videos for Dolphin Lover.

Production Team

Filmmakers Kareem Tabsch & Joey Daoud

Kareem Tabsch

Director & Producer

Kareem Tabsch is the co-founder and co-director of O Cinema, Miami largest art house cinema with three locations throughout the city..   Previously, Tabsch spent nine years on staff at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, where he served as Program Director for two years and brought icons like Bea Arthur and John Waters to Miami audiences. He has written about arts and entertainment for various local and national publications including Luxury Lifestyles, BeachedMiami, Miami Living, Miami New Times and various others.   He has served on the First Feature Jury for Frameline, San Francisco’s LGBT Film Festival, lectured about the history of queer cinema at Florida International University, and moderated a conversation around themes in Cyrano de Bergerac for the Florida Grand Opera.   In 2013 he was featured in the Miami New Times ‘People Issue’ for his contribution to the cities film culture.  He currently serves on the Advisory Committee of the Miami Foundation’s Our Miami initiative and as a Trustee of Awesome Foundation Miami. His previous film Cherry Pop: The Story of the World’s Fanciest Cat has played at a multitude of film festivals including AFI Docs, Doc NYC, and Sidewalk Film Festival where it won the Best Short Documentary Prize.

Joey Daoud

Producer / Cinematographer / Editor

Joey Daoud is a documentary producer, director, and cinematographer based in Miami Beach, FL. His recent films include Papa Machete, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival, and Dolphin Lover, which received Honorable Mention from the documentary jury at Slamdance Film Festival. Past projects include Bots High, a feature length documentary following high school kids who build kick-ass combat robots and Space Miami, a short documentary that chronicles a long-neglected rocket manufacturing and testing site in the Everglades that shows the beautiful side of the project’s decay. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Guardian, The Economist, Fusion, Filmmaker Magazine and other media outlets.  His recent short film Strike! The Greatest Bowling Story of All Time played at numerous film festivals and will be making its online premiere soon on a major media outlet.
Malcolm & Dolly

Wet Goddess: Recollections of a Dolphin Lover

Read the book that Dolphin Lover is inspired by and check out photos and writings by Malcolm.