Mystic — A new Hallmark Christmas movie features local charm, businesses and destinations while highlighting Mystic Aquarium’s mission of rescue and rehabilitation.

“Mystic Christmas” was scheduled to premiere Saturday evening.

“This was the best Hallmark movie by far,” said David Beebe, who now lives in Canterbury after more than two decades as a Stonington resident.

Beebe was one of the invited guests at a Friday evening event at the aquarium featuring a discussion with executives from Synthetic Cinema International and aquarium staff, followed by a screening of the film at nearby Mystic Luxury Cinemas.

“Mystic Christmas,” which was filmed over three weeks last spring, is typical Hallmark movie fare, telling the story of a woman, Dr. Juniper Jones (Jessy Schram), and a man, Sawyer Adams (Chandler Massey) who get a second chance at love during the Christmas season.

But instead of featuring a fictional town and businesses, the film, which Director Marlo Hunter described as “a love letter to Mystic,” embraces the village’s landmarks and destinations.

“It captured so much of what is magical about our community,” said Stonington First Selectman Danielle Chesebrough on Friday after watching the film.

Andrew Gernhard, film producer with Synthetic Cinema, said the film has an authentic Connecticut quality, and even contains a few Easter eggs (messages) for locals and an homage to the famous “Mystic Pizza,” in actor William R. Moses, who played Tim in the 1988 film.

Locals will recognize familiar businesses like Mango’s Wood-Fired Pizza, Sift Bake Shop and Abbott’s Outpost, as well as destinations such as Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport Museum and Olde Mistick Village and events like the annual lighted boat parade.

The film also highlights a mission of rescue and rehabilitation at Mystic Aquarium through the story of Peppermint, a sick female seal under the care of the aquarium’s rescue program, whose release in time for Christmas is threatened when the head of the rescue programs quits.

Juniper, the globe-trotting, world-renowned marine biologist, comes to Mystic to help her best friend and aquarium executive Candice Adams (Patty Murin) by helping to get Peppermint back to her ocean home.

Candace’s brother Sawyer is the universally liked and incredibly helpful owner of Mango’s Wood-Fired Pizza Company. A misunderstanding years ago caused Juniper and Sawyer to go their separate ways, but the charms of Mystic and the sick seal played by aquarium resident Cork, a 10-year-old male harbor seal, help to renew the spark between them.

Hunter said the aquarium’s staff was “extraordinary,” and the film crew worked on the seals’ schedule to ensure the comfort of the animals in the film.

Kim Podesta, senior marine mammal trainer at the aquarium, said she spent long hours focused on Cork’s comfort and well-being by hanging lights and holding long poles over Cork to help him become acclimated to what he would experience during filming.

She said that though Cork could not tell her he whether he enjoyed the experience, she thinks he did and that he found it enriching.

“If he didn’t want to do it, he wouldn’t,” Podesta said, explaining that the animals in the care of the aquarium always have the choice to participate in activities.

For those who miss the Saturday premiere, the movie will air on the Hallmark Channel at 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct 29, at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, and several more times through the Christmas season.