Film about Rye Boy lost in the woods of Maine

In 2009, MyRye reported the story of Donn Fendler, a 12-year-old boy from Rye who survived nine days in the Maine wilderness as a child in 1939. Fendler later published Lost on a mountain in Maine, who describes his experience in the Maine woods on Mount Katahdin. This fall, a film adaptation of Fendler’s book will hit theaters. MyRye spoke to filmmaker Ryan Cook about his upcoming film.

MyRye: Are there plans to distribute Lost on a mountain in Maine for a wider audience?

Cook: “The film will be released in theaters in the fall. We have a premiere in Maine at the Maine International Film Festival, which is July 13, and we will have a premiere and celebration of the film. Then it will be released in theaters across the country in the fall.”

How did you decide to make a film about Donn Fendler?

“I was in fourth grade and I grew up in Maine, and in Maine, the book (Lost on a mountain in Maine) is required reading for all fourth grade students in the public school system, as part of our studies in Maine. And it’s an iconic story in our state; my parents read the book to me when I was 10 years old. This is probably one of Maine’s most famous stories. So I’ve known the story since I was little, and then in fourth grade, when we read the book, Donn Fendler came to our class. He would travel all over the state and go to different classrooms and libraries and conferences and just talk to people about the book and the story. And for me, it was a truly life-changing experience. He became one of my heroes.

“So I loved history from a very young age and I admired Donn. When I got my film degree, I said to myself, “This is a project I want to take on. “And it was complicated – the book rights and the broadcast rights, navigating those waters, raising the money and finding the right creative team to partner with. It was a long road. My production partner Derek and I started in 2010 going to Donn’s summer home in Maine and meeting with him to work on the project, one step at a time. It took us 14 years, but we finally managed to make the film. »

What was the process of editing the film? To what extent is the storyline based on real life and to what extent is it fictionalized?

“We used the book as a guide, but … we developed a very close relationship with Donn, and so we were able to gather other details of his trip and what he remembers. Also, the book really touches on Donn’s journey, but there was so much more than what happened in the outside world: the search and rescue team, and his family, what they went through . We feel like we’ve made a film that will also tell this side of the story. In the end, we made a film about family. The bond between a son and his mother and father, their efforts to find him, and his efforts to find them. And all of this information came from spending time with Donn and hearing him talk about his relationship with his parents, his two brothers and his sister. He had a twin brother, Ryan Fendler, who was with him on the hike – that’s a pretty close bond. We feel like we’ve been as true to the story as possible because we think it’s powerful as is, but we’re excited to include other elements that people might not know about.

Did you speak to anyone currently or formerly connected to Rye while researching the film?

“Donn’s brother, Tom Fendler, still lives in Rye to this day. (…) I came to Rye to show him the film recently, which was a really great and special experience. There are actually a lot of connections to Rye. Two of our producers are also from Rye. Dick Boyce, one of our main producers, is not from Rye, but he lived there for a long time. (…) He had a connection with Rye and lived there for a while. Our other producer, Heather Grehan, grew up in Rye, coincidentally. She had no connection to the story in advance, but Sylvester Salone’s company Balboa Productions is a producer on the film and she works for Balboa. So when we approached them to do the film, it was serendipitous, “Oh, I grew up in Rye. » And his mother still lives there. It’s a strange little world. Through three different threads – between the Fendlers, between the Boyce family and between Heather Grehan – there is a deep connection to Rye.

Do you know how the town of Rye reacted to Donn Fendler’s disappearance at the time?

“I don’t have details, but I think they were similar to the rest of the country. It became a national news story. This story went viral at a time when things didn’t. I think they felt the same way as the rest of the country: every evening, they listened to the radio and read the newspapers, hoping to learn that this young man had managed to reunite with his family. Especially from (Donn’s) hometown. Many people there knew his family. They wanted to see him come home. And towards the end, things weren’t looking so good. He stayed there for nine days. That’s a long time to have hope, so for him to come home and come back to Rye was a pretty special thing.

Thanks Ryan!

Lost on a mountain in Maine will premiere at the Main International Film Festival (MIFF) this summer. Festival pass holders can purchase tickets to the premiere on MIFF.ORG now, or individual tickets will be available for purchase on July 14. The film will be hits theaters this fall.