Editing Fly Away Home

{{short description|1996 film by Carroll Ballard}}
{{About||the novel|Jennifer Weiner|the children's book|Eve Bunting|the 2016 film|Fly Away Home (2016 film)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Fly Away Home
| image          = Fly_away_home_poster.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| based_on       = {{based on|''Father Goose: One Man, a Gaggle of Geese, and Their Real Life Incredible Journey South''|[[Bill Lishman]]}}
| screenplay     = [[Robert Rodat]]<br>Vince McKewin
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Jeff Daniels]]
* [[Anna Paquin]]
* [[Dana Delany]]
* [[Terry Kinney]]}}
| director       = [[Carroll Ballard]]
| producer       = [[Carol Baum]]
| music          = [[Mark Isham]]
| cinematography = [[Caleb Deschanel]]
| editing        = Nicholas C. Smith
| studio         = [[Columbia Pictures]]<br>Sandollar<br>The Saul Zaentz Film Center
| distributor    = [[Sony Pictures Releasing]]
| released       = {{film date|1996|09|13|United States}}
| runtime        = 107 minutes
| country        = Canada<br>United States<br>New Zealand
| language       = English
| gross          = $36.5 million<ref name=numbers>{{cite web|url= https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Fly-Away-Home |title=Fly Away Home (1996) |website=The Numbers |access-date=2024-07-23}}</ref>
}}

'''''Fly Away Home''''' ({{aka}} '''''Flying Wild''''' and '''''Father Goose''''')  is a 1996 [[children's film|family]] [[Adventure film|adventure]] [[drama (film and television)|drama film]] directed by [[Carroll Ballard]]. The film stars [[Anna Paquin]], [[Jeff Daniels]], and [[Dana Delany]]. ''Fly Away Home'' was released on September 13, 1996, by [[Columbia Pictures]].

''Fly Away Home'' dramatizes the actual experiences of [[Bill Lishman]] who, in 1986, started training [[Canada geese]] to follow his ultralight aircraft, and succeeded in leading their migration in 1993 through his program "Operation Migration". The film is also based on the experience of Dr. [[William J. L. Sladen]], a British-born zoologist and adventurer, who aided Lishman with the migration.<ref name=wpost>{{cite news |first=Emily |last=Langer |title=William J.L. Sladen, scientific adventurer featured in 'Fly Away Home,' dies at 96 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/william-jl-sladen-scientific-adventurer-featured-in-fly-away-home-dies-at-96/2017/06/01/0122b320-4639-11e7-bcde-624ad94170ab_story.html |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |date=2017-06-01 |access-date=2017-06-27}}</ref>
{{TOC limit|limit=2}}

==Plot==
After surviving a car accident, in which her mother Aliane dies swerving out the way of an oncoming truck, 13-year-old Amy Alden is brought from [[New Zealand]] to [[Ontario]], Canada, by her estranged father Thomas Alden, a sculptor and inventor, to live with him and his girlfriend Susan.

When a construction crew destroys a small wilderness area near the Alden home, Amy finds an abandoned nest of 16 [[Canada geese|goose]] eggs. Without Thomas, Susan, or her uncle David knowing, she takes the eggs and keeps them in a dresser in her father's old barn to [[Avian incubation|incubate]]. When the eggs hatch, she is allowed to keep the goslings as pets. Thomas asks for help from local Animal Regulation officer Glen Seifert on how to care for the geese. Seifert comes over to the Alden house, and explains that the geese have [[imprinting (psychology)|imprinted]] on Amy as their mother. He explains that geese learn everything from their parents including migratory routes, but also warns Thomas that a private ordinance dictates that all [[domesticated animals|domestic]] geese must have their wings [[pinioning|pinioned]] (clipped) to render them flightless. He promptly tries to demonstrate the process with one of the goslings, which upsets Amy. Thomas throws Seifert off his property, only for Seifert to threaten the Aldens that if the birds start flying, he will have to confiscate them.

Thomas decides to use an [[ultralight]] aircraft he had been constructing to teach the birds to fly and show them their migratory routes, but quickly realizes the birds will only follow Amy. Aided by his friend Barry, Thomas teaches Amy how to fly an ultralight aircraft of her own. David knows someone running a [[bird sanctuary]] in [[North Carolina]], and arranges for the geese to go to the sanctuary. The birds have to arrive before November 1, or the sanctuary will be torn down by developers who plan to turn it into a coastal housing development.

Amy and Thomas practice flying the aircraft, but Igor, the weakest of the geese, who has a limp, accidentally hits the front of Amy's aircraft and lands in an isolated forest. While the group goes off to search for the bird, Seifert returns to the Alden farm and confiscates the other geese. The next day, the Aldens free the geese, and Amy leads them on their migration to North Carolina, keeping Igor strapped in her cockpit as he is unable to fly in his current condition.

Making an emergency landing at [[Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station]] in western New York on the south shore of Lake Ontario, Amy and Thomas almost get arrested. They become national news, with residents cheering them on.

Thomas and Amy meet an old woman with a vendetta against goose shooting, and she invites them to stay the night at her house. That night Amy asks Thomas why he rarely visited her and her mother. From her mother, she knows that her parents were artists, who tend to be selfish, and that her mother left for both of their sakes. Thomas tells her that he was afraid and angry at himself for letting them leave, so he spent the next ten years buried in his work. He apologizes to Amy.

Thirty miles before reaching the bird sanctuary, Thomas's aircraft suffers a structural failure and crashes in a cornfield; having suffered a dislocated shoulder he tells Amy to finish the journey by herself. Thomas hitchhikes to the bird sanctuary. While waiting for the geese, Thomas, Susan, David, Barry, and many animal enthusiasts stand up to developers who are waiting to start the excavation of the site.

Amy eventually appears with the geese, much to the joy of the townspeople and Amy's family, and to the dismay of the developers. The townspeople and the Aldens celebrate their victory. During the end credits, a note reveals that all 16 geese - including a fully recovered Igor - returned to the Aldens' farm on their own in the following spring.

==Cast==
{{div col}}
* [[Jeff Daniels]] as Thomas Alden
* [[Anna Paquin]] as Amy Alden
* [[Dana Delany]] as Susan Barnes
* [[Terry Kinney]] as David Alden
* [[Holter Graham]] as Barry Stickland
* [[Jeremy Ratchford]] as Glen Seifert
* Deborah Verginella as Aliane Alden
* [[Michael J. Reynolds (actor)|Michael J. Reynolds]] as General Hatfield
* [[David Hemblen]] as Dr. Killian
* Ken James as Developer
* Nora Ballard as Jackie
* Sarena Paton as Laura
* Chris Benson as Farmer
* [[Gladys O'Connor]] as Farm Woman
{{Div col end}}

==Music==
The film features the song "[[Fare Thee Well (song)|10,000 Miles]]" performed by [[Mary Chapin Carpenter]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=April 24, 1999 |title=Carpenter Set Offers Her Favorites And Fans' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eigEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA77 |access-date=July 23, 2024 |magazine=Billboard |page=77}}</ref> "Wherever You Are", also performed by Carpenter, appears during the end credits, though it is not present in the Special Edition DVD version.

==Production==
Two farms near [[Lindsay, Ontario|Lindsay in southeastern Ontario]] were used to recreate the Alden home.<ref name="Leading" /> [[Principal photography]] took place in 1995. The blacksmith shop constructed onsite for the filming of ''[[The Last Buffalo]]'' at Purple Hill, Ontario, was reused as part of the Alden homestead.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lishman |first=Bill |url=http://www.williamlishman.com/film.htm |title=William Lishman- Film |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718053318/http://www.williamlishman.com/film.htm |archive-date=2011-07-18 |website=williamlishman.com |access-date=May 9, 2011}}</ref>

[[Caleb Deschanel]], who had previously collaborated with director Carroll Ballard on the films ''[[The Black Stallion (film)|The Black Stallion]]'' and ''[[Never Cry Wolf (film)|Never Cry Wolf]]'', returned as director of photography for ''Fly Away Home''.<ref name="Virginian">{{cite news |last1=Vincent |first1=Mal |title="Fly Away Home" Turns Father Goose into Mother Goose |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1996/vp960915/09130085.htm |page=E1 |access-date=23 July 2024 |work=The Virginian-Pilot |date=September 15, 1996}}</ref>

[[Image:Fly Away Home aircraft.jpg|thumb|right| An example of an ultralight on display at the [[Western Canada Aviation Museum]] to publicize the film.]]

Two gliders were featured in the film: The [[UFM Easy Riser]] and the [[History of hang gliding|Cosmos Trike]]. The Easy Riser first appears as a foot-launched biplane hang glider. True to Lishman's real-life saga, modifications were made to improve the design including the addition of a motor and seat. Anna Paquin's character meanwhile flies an A-frame Cosmos Trike with a mock goose head mounted to the noseplate of the airframe and a fabric wing covering painted to resemble feathers (features Lishman wanted to add to his own Trike, but never did due to time). The Cosmos Trike was reportedly chosen for its safety, superior engine power, and increased wing size (a feature that was needed to fly slow enough for the birds).<ref name="lishman">{{cite web|url=http://williamlishman.com/flight.htm |title=Ultralight Aircraft |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212231700/http://www.williamlishman.com/flight.htm |archive-date=2009-12-12 |website=williamlishman.com |access-date=March 20, 2010}}</ref>

The four-day trip home for the geese that would take them to Lake Ontario, over the Appalachians to Pennsylvania, Maryland, finally settling on the North Carolina Shores, had principal photography actually filmed nearly entirely at [[Port Perry]] and [[Sandbanks Provincial Park]], Ontario, Canada. Additional location shots were the city-fly-through in Toronto, Ontario, standing in for Baltimore, Maryland (CGI aircraft).<ref name="Leading">{{cite episode|title='Fly Away Home': Leading the Flock |series=HBO First Look |season=3 |number=6 |date=August 1996 |network=HBO}}</ref> At the conclusion of the production, Lishman led the 60 imprinted "actor-geese" in migration, to winter at the [[Tom Yawkey#Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center Heritage Preserve|Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center]] off the coast of [[Georgetown, South Carolina]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Lishman |first=Bill |date=2011 |title=Fly Away Home: Behind the scenes |url=http://www.operationmigration.org/fly_away_home.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031209122254/http://www.operationmigration.org/fly_away_home.html |archive-date=2003-12-09 |access-date=May 9, 2011 |website=operationmigration.org}}</ref>

While in production, the film was at first titled ''Flying Wild'', but was changed to ''Fly Away Home'' just weeks before its release in movie theaters. The original trailer has the title ''Flying Wild'',<ref>{{cite web |title=Flying Wild (1996) - Fly Away Home (1996) Trailer (VHS Capture) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAyo4oTj-XI |website=YouTube |access-date=23 July 2024 |date=2014-11-09}}</ref> and can be found on certain VHS copies of ''[[Jumanji (film)|Jumanji]]'' from [[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|Columbia TriStar Home Video]]; the [[French language|French]] version title (''<span dir="ltr" lang="fr">L'Envolée sauvage</span>'') is the translated version of this title.

==Reception==
===Box office===
''Fly Away Home'' returned US$25 million in the U.S. box office and US$11 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $36.5 million.<ref name=numbers/>

===Critical reception===
{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|88|7.30|48|ref=y|Well-acted and beautifully filmed, ''Fly Away Home'' offers heartwarming entertainment for moviegoers of all ages.|access-date=May 20, 2021}} On [[Metacritic]], the film has a weighted average score of 77 out of 100 based on 28 critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fly Away Home |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/fly-away-home/ |access-date=July 23, 2024 |website=[[Metacritic]]}}</ref>

In a review that awarded 3 and 1/2 stars out of 4, [[Roger Ebert]] noted: "There are individual shots here almost worth the price of admission...[including] a stunning shot in which the towers of Baltimore materialize from the mist, and office workers see the little girl and her geese flying past their windows."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=September 13, 1996 |title=Fly Away Home |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fly-away-home-1996 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104022421/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19960913%2FREVIEWS%2F609130303%2F1023 |archive-date=2013-01-04 |access-date=July 23, 2024 |website=RogerEbert.com}}</ref> [[Janet Maslin]] from ''[[The New York Times]]'' was similarly effusive, writing "Mr. Ballard turns a potentially treacly children's film into an exhilarating 90's fable."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |date=1996-09-13 |title=Make Way for Goslings |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/13/movies/make-way-for-goslings.html |access-date=2024-07-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> [[Gene Shalit]] on the ''[[Today (U.S. TV program)|Today Show]]'' called the film "a must see movie".

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of ''Spirituality & Practice'' stated, "The movie adds excitement and emotion, turning into a celebration of the creative ways human beings and animals can serve, assist, and love one another."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brussat |first=Frederic and Mary Ann |date=2009 |title=Film review: 'Fly Away Home' |url=https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/3138?id=3138 |access-date=May 9, 2011 |website=spiritualityandpractice.com}}</ref>

=== Impact ===
The first production of investigative theater group [[The Civilians]], ''Canard, Canard, Goose?,'' was inspired by rumors of animal mistreatment on ''Fly Away Home''<nowiki/>'s set.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cote |first=David |date=7 February 2002 |title=Reviews: Canard, Canard, Goose? |url=https://www.thecivilians.org/news_2002_tony.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040629184637/https://www.thecivilians.org/news_2002_tony.html |archive-date=June 29, 2004 |website=Time Out New York}}</ref>

==Awards==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Award
!Category
!Nominee(s)
!Result
!{{Abbr|Ref.|Reference}}
|-
|[[69th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
|[[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| rowspan="2" |[[Caleb Deschanel]]
|{{nom}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=69th Academy Awards |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1997 |access-date=July 23, 2024 |website=oscars.org|date=October 5, 2014 }}</ref>
|-
|[[American Society of Cinematographers|American Society of Cinematographers Awards]]
|[[American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases|Best Cinematography – Theatrical Release]]
|{{nom}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Past Nominees & Winners — 11th Annual ASC Awards — 1996 |url=https://theasc.com/38th-asc-awards/past-nominees-winners |access-date=July 23, 2024 |website=American Society of Cinematographers}}</ref>
|-
|[[Christopher Award]]s
|colspan=2 | Best Family Film
|{{won}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |last=Becker |first=Peter |date=2011-10-13 |title=Fly Away Home to be screened Oct. 22 |url=https://www.tricountyindependent.com/story/news/2011/10/13/fly-away-home-to-be/63637528007/ |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=Tri-County Independent |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
|rowspan=2 |[[2nd Critics' Choice Awards|Critics' Choice Awards]]
|[[Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer|Best Child Performance]]
|[[Anna Paquin]]
|{{nom}}
|rowspan=2 |<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fly Away Home |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/fly-away-home/2030119024/ |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=TVGuide.com |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|colspan=2 |[[Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Family Film|Best Family Film]]
|{{won}}
|-
|[[Environmental Media Awards]]
|colspan=2 | Feature Film
|{{won}}
|<ref>{{cite web |title=Past Recipients & Honorees |url=https://www.green4ema.org/ema-awards/ema-awards-past-recipients-and-honorees |website=EMA Awards |access-date=23 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[Genesis Awards]]
|colspan=2 | Award for Feature Film
|{{won}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 22, 1997 |title=Fly Away Home&#039; wins award |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1997/01/22/Fly-Away-Home-wins-award/9715853909200/ |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" |[[18th Youth in Film Awards|Young Artist Awards]] 
| colspan=2 | Best Family Feature – Drama
| {{won}}
| rowspan="2" |<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eighteenth Annual Youth in Film Awards, 1995–1996 |url=http://www.youngartistawards.org/pastnoms18.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110402060451/http://www.youngartistawards.org/pastnoms18.htm |archive-date=2011-04-02 |access-date=May 7, 2011 |website=youngartistawards.org}}</ref>
|-
|Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress
| rowspan="2" |Anna Paquin
| {{nom}}
|-
|[[YoungStar Award]]s
|Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film
|{{nom}}
|
|}

==Home media==
''Fly Away Home'' was more successful on [[home video]] than in theaters. The studio sold an estimated $32 million on video, receiving 75% of the revenue.<ref name=matzer19970416>{{cite news|title=Direct-to-Video Family Films Are Hitting Home|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-16-fi-49283-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=4 June 2011|first=Marla|last=Matzer|date=1997-04-16}}</ref> The film was originally released to VHS in December 1996. A DVD release in August 2001 included the exclusive featurette by Bill Lishman, ''Operation Migration: Birds of a Feather'', along with two documentaries: ''The Ultra Geese'' and the HBO special ''Leading the Flock''. The DVD also provided a link to Lishman's "Operation Migration" website.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/2424 |title='Fly Away Home': SE |date=August 7, 2001 |website=DVD Talk |accessdate=July 23, 2024}}</ref> A companion CD audio recording of the music featured in the soundtrack was released in 1996.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fly Away Home (1996) |url=https://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/34270/Fly+Away+Home |accessdate=May 9, 2011 |website=Soundtrack Collector}}</ref> A [[Blu-ray Disc|Blu-ray]] edition of ''Fly Away Home'' was released on April 7, 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fly Away Home [Blu-ray] |url=https://www.amazon.com/Away-Home-Blu-ray-Anna-Paquin/dp/B001QMCJ1Y |access-date=July 23, 2024 |website=Amazon}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Human-guided migration]]
*[[List of American films of 1996]]
*[[Imprinting (psychology)]]
*[[Winged Migration]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite AV media|title=Fly Away Home (Special Edition DVD) |location= Culver City, California |publisher=Columbia/Tristar Home Video |year=2001}}
* {{cite book|last=Hermes |first=Patricia |title=Fly Away Home: The Novelization and Story Behind the Film |location=New York |publisher=Newmarket |year=2005 |isbn=1-55704-489-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Lishman |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Lishman |title=Father Goose & His Goslings (Light Up the Mind of a Child Series) |location=St. Louis, Missouri |publisher=San Val |year=1992 |isbn=978-1-4176-3444-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Lishman |first=William Alwyn |author-link=Bill Lishman |title=Father Goose: One Man, a Gaggle of Geese, and Their Real Life Incredible Journey South |location=New York |publisher=Crown |year=1996 |isbn=0-517-70182-0}}

==External links==
* {{TCMDb title|id=309394}}
* {{IMDb title|id=0116329|title=Fly Away Home}}
* {{Rotten-tomatoes|id=fly_away_home|title=Fly Away Home}}

{{Carroll Ballard}}

[[Category:1990s coming-of-age drama films]]
[[Category:1990s teen drama films]]
[[Category:1996 drama films]]
[[Category:1996 films]]
[[Category:1996 children's films]]
[[Category:American aviation films]]
[[Category:American coming-of-age drama films]]
[[Category:American teen drama films]]
[[Category:Canadian aviation films]]
[[Category:Canadian coming-of-age drama films]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]]
[[Category:Coming-of-age drama films based on actual events]]
[[Category:Films set on farms]]
[[Category:Films about geese]]
[[Category:Films about families]]
[[Category:Films about friendship]]
[[Category:Films based on biographies]]
[[Category:Films directed by Carroll Ballard]]
[[Category:Films scored by Mark Isham]]
[[Category:Films set in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Films set in Ontario]]
[[Category:Films set in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Films set in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Films set in Baltimore]]
[[Category:Films set in Virginia]]
[[Category:Films set in North Carolina]]
[[Category:Films shot in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Films shot in Toronto]]
[[Category:New Zealand coming-of-age drama films]]
[[Category:Films about father–daughter relationships]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:1990s Canadian films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Robert Rodat]]