After discovering our documentary, Ari, a Mexican Keiko fan, decided to dedicate these words to the inner child that all the adults who knew Keiko carry within them. Keiko: The Untold Story of the Star of Free Willy shares his moving words.

Keiko: my childhood “friend”

by Ari R. Zepeda

My favorite animal has always been the orca. It all started when I was about five years old and I went to see Keiko in Reino Aventura. I remember that feeling vividly: absolute awe. My young mind was forever marked by it.

Keiko in Mexico vs Keiko in Norway

I couldn’t stop thinking about that beautiful creature. And with the boundless creativity of a five-year-old—and my mom’s needle—I made my own Keiko plushie. It wasn’t perfect, but it was mine.

A couple of years later, he became internationally famous with “Free Willy”. I was about seven years old. My admiration grew even more. I continued building worlds for him: I made an aquarium out of a shoebox, sculpted Keiko out of Play-Doh, and put a Playmobil figure that was “me” with him. There, we were friends.

As a child, I wasn’t aware of his pain. I didn’t understand what it meant to be in captivity. I only knew that I loved him.

The day they took him away, it hurt me deeply. They told me it was so he could be free. And although I didn’t fully understand what that meant, I remember writing him a song that day. It was my way of saying: thank you for existing in my world.

As time went on, I grew up. Adult life sometimes makes us forget the child we once were. The games, our heroes. And for years I knew nothing more about Keiko.

Until today.

Today, in one of those searches that don’t seem accidental, I found the documentary “Keiko: The Untold Story of the Star of Free Willy”. I didn’t know it existed. Through that search, I found Karla Munguía, who has been like my fairy godmother. And it was as if my inner child had taken my hand and said: “Let’s finish this story.”

Ari shares his story with Keiko.

Today I’m here, with my friend Petri, getting ready to watch this story that, in reality, began more than 30 years ago in the heart of a 5-year-old boy.

Sometimes life doesn’t close cycles… It reunites them.

I’ll tell you what I think after I see it.