iafrica.com, 31 October 2005, CAPE TOWN, by Maria Lorente—Film director Luc Jacquet set out to depict penguins' lonely journey across icy wastelands to find a mate but ended up touching a common nerve of love and fragility in people across the world.

The birds' human-like stoicism during their treacherous annual mating ritual transformed a small wildlife documentary, March of the Penguins, into a surprise international hit and the most successful French film in US history, Jacquet said in an interview.

"The film touches on a universal emotion," Jacquet said in a hotel in Los Angeles where he was promoting the DVD release of his film, which topped the North American box office for weeks earlier this year.

But it was not the human themes of love and loneliness that Jacquet set out to capture when he headed to freezing Antarctica to document the birds' annual mating pilgrimage. It was the battle of the species to survive against all odds that fascinated him.

"What is most important for me is the extreme fragility of the emperor penguin. That's the story I wanted to tell. The penguins make this incredible journey, and then everything can fall to pieces in an instant," he said.

"There are only a few dozen places where he can lay eggs, he does this in the most stable environment he can and finds himself walking for miles upon miles in the blizzards of Antarctica just to lay one egg. The emperor penguin lives his life on the edge," he explained.

The film opened in North America with virtually no publicity and showing in only a few locations, but its surprise success prompted distributor Warner Independent to soon expand it onto nearly 700 screens.

The $3.4-million film has raked in more than $76-million in the United States and Canada alone, creating a new reputation for its maker.

"A year and a half ago, this film was practically dead," Jacquet said. There was no more money, people weren't being paid and we couldn't get anyone to finance it," he recalled.

Jacquet's fascination with the black-and-white-clad emperor penguin began when he first visited Antarctica on a scientific expedition in 1992. During the trip, the young biologist switched careers and became a filmmaker.

"I realised that what I wanted to do was tell people the story of what I had seen. That's why I decided to change careers," he said.

In 2000, long after he returned to France, he began writing a documentary about the only inhabitants of the icy continent, the emperor penguins, the largest of their species, weighing around 30kg.

"It was the best story, but I kept it until I was professional enough," he said of his film, which is narrated by actor Morgan Freeman in English.

He returned to Antarctica in 2003 with a three-person team to capture the birds' entire lifecycle over the year. The penguins were not afraid of the men who came to film them.

Conditions during filming were very tough. Temperatures plunged to minus 40 degrees, and winds blew at speeds of up to 300km/h.

"It was difficult," he said. But Jacquet was captivated by his subject and its surroundings, saying he made the film for those who love penguins as much as he does and want to protect them.

He plans to make more films about animals now that he has proved himself to producers and is disbelieving but tantalised by the possibility of winning an Academy Award for his first feature-length film.

"An Oscar? That would be a dream. When you come from so far, an Oscar seems impossible. I still can't believe this whole thing," he said.