ENCINITAS — Documentarian Cody Sheehy knew where he had to take his latest film after a successful run on the festival circuit.
“We’re really excited about San Diego, because we think that this film is a perfect match for the veterans, seniors, and healing community that exists in San Diego,” Sheehy told The Coast News. “Also, it’s a beautiful city. It’s one of our favorite cities.”
“The Last Dive” is scheduled to play at the Balboa Theatre on Aug. 19 before two screenings at La Paloma Theatre the following day. Sheehy said the second La Paloma screening was added in response to demand after the first sold out.
The film centers on the relationship between Terry Kennedy and a manta ray named Willy in the Gulf of California.
Sheehy spends nearly half the year on a sailboat with his family exploring remote islands in the area, which is where he first met Kennedy.
“He’s one of those guys that you meet down in Mexico,” the director said. “He had a little bit of a tough edge to him, but he’s just a kind, warm-hearted person who loves to get people in the water and diving. His passion for the ocean is incredible, and that’s kind of how I knew him at first – somebody who just loves the ocean.”
Before finding himself in Mexico, Kennedy, now in his 80s, was a veteran of the Vietnam War who later became involved with the Hells Angels and also spent time behind bars.
“This is a story of redemption,” Sheehy said. “Terry is an incredibly charismatic character with a troubled past and we’ve followed his journey of transformation into the Terry that exists today.”
The giant manta ray lives up to its name, reaching wingspans of up to 26 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The species can live up to 45 years and weigh more than 5,000 pounds.
Giant manta rays are a migratory species known for their intelligence, as evidenced by their ability to recognize themselves in a reflection when subjected to the mirror test.
“There are very few animals that are of that level of intelligence and perhaps it is connected to consciousness in some way,” Sheehy said.
NOAA also lists the giant manta ray as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Threats include entanglement in fishing gear and demand for their gill plates, which are used for medicinal purposes in some parts of the world.
Kennedy became involved in conservation efforts after meeting Willy during a dive at Isla San Benedicto in the remote Revillagigedo Islands.
The manta approached Kennedy in a peculiar way, as if inviting him to interact and play.
“They developed this 19-year friendship where every day Willy would come to his sailboat, slap a wing on the hull of his boat, Terry would put on his gear, jump in the water, and then get on the back of this manta ray, and then go off and ride around in the water and have these incredible adventures,” Sheehy said. “Terry documented all of it with video.”
The director said his team had hundreds of hours of video to sift through to tell the story of the cross-species friendship while also “building a world that will transport people back to the 70s and 80s down on these boats down in Mexico and what that was like is a whole different culture of fun.”
“The guiding light for us was to just find all the footage where Terry and Willy are interacting and try to look for the moments that reveal their friendship and their connection together as much as possible,” Sheehy said.
He added that the filmmakers also wanted the dive sequences to feel as close to the experience of actually diving as possible, something his extensive diving experience helped inform.
The film won the Best Cinematography award at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, as well as Best Documentary awards at the Montreal International and Boise film festivals.
Kennedy and Sheehy plan to attend the La Paloma screenings and participate in question-and-answer sessions afterward.
“It’s my dream that enough people get together around this – join our community and movement – so that, maybe when my son is older, there’s a chance that he’ll be able to dive with mantas also,” Sheehy said.
