''Burn Your Maps'' is a 2016 American
comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
film written and directed by
Jordan Roberts, based on the
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
of the same name by Robyn Joy Leff. The film stars
Vera Farmiga
Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress who is best known for portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films '' The Conjuring'' (2013), '' The Conjuring 2'' (2016), '' Annabelle Co ...
,
Jacob Tremblay
Jacob Tremblay ( ; born October 5, 2006) is a Canadian actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Canadian Screen Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, a Young Artist Award, and nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award, tw ...
,
Suraj Sharma
Suraj Sharma (born 21 March 1993) is an Indian actor who made his debut in the 2012 film ''Life of Pi''. Directed by Ang Lee, the film was adapted from the novel of the same name, and earned Sharma critical acclaim as well as a BAFTA Rising St ...
,
Ramón Rodríguez,
Virginia Madsen
Virginia Gayle Madsen (born September 11, 1961) is an American actress and film producer. She made her film debut in ''Class'' (1983), which was filmed in her native Chicago. After she moved to Los Angeles, director David Lynch cast her as Pri ...
, and
Marton Csokas
Marton Paul Csokas (, hu, Csókás Márton Pál; born 30 June 1966) is a Hungarian-New Zealand actor of film, stage, and television. A graduate of the Toi Whakaari drama school, he has worked extensively in Australia and Hollywood, along with ...
.
The film had its world premiere at the
2016 Toronto International Film Festival
The 41st annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 8 to 18 September 2016. The first announcement of films to be screened at the festival took place on 26 July. Almost 400 films were shown.
Awards
The festival's final awards were ...
on September 9, 2016, and was released on June 21, 2019, by
Vertical Entertainment
Vertical Entertainment is an American film distribution and production company founded by producers Richard B. "Rich" Goldberg and Mitch Budin in 2012.
History
In 2012, Rich Goldberg & Mitch Budin founded Vertical Entertainment, a film distribut ...
.
Plot
After the death of his infant sister, 8-year-old American boy Wes tells his grieving parents that he is a Mongolian goat-herder who was born in the wrong place. Joined by an ambitious young filmmaker named Ismail, Wes leads his family to Mongolia on a soul-searching journey.
Cast
*
Vera Farmiga
Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress who is best known for portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films '' The Conjuring'' (2013), '' The Conjuring 2'' (2016), '' Annabelle Co ...
as Alise Firth
*
Jacob Tremblay
Jacob Tremblay ( ; born October 5, 2006) is a Canadian actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Canadian Screen Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, a Young Artist Award, and nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award, tw ...
as Wes Firth
*
Suraj Sharma
Suraj Sharma (born 21 March 1993) is an Indian actor who made his debut in the 2012 film ''Life of Pi''. Directed by Ang Lee, the film was adapted from the novel of the same name, and earned Sharma critical acclaim as well as a BAFTA Rising St ...
as Ismail
*
Virginia Madsen
Virginia Gayle Madsen (born September 11, 1961) is an American actress and film producer. She made her film debut in ''Class'' (1983), which was filmed in her native Chicago. After she moved to Los Angeles, director David Lynch cast her as Pri ...
as Victoria
*
Marton Csokas
Marton Paul Csokas (, hu, Csókás Márton Pál; born 30 June 1966) is a Hungarian-New Zealand actor of film, stage, and television. A graduate of the Toi Whakaari drama school, he has worked extensively in Australia and Hollywood, along with ...
as Connor Firth
*
Ramón Rodríguez as Batbayar
* Taylor Geare as Becca Firth
* Glynis Davies as Lillian
*
Jason Scott Lee
Jason Scott Lee (; born November 19, 1966) is an American actor and martial artist. He played Mowgli in Disney's 1994 live-action adaptation of ''The Jungle Book'' and Bruce Lee in the 1993 martial arts film '' Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story''. He ...
as Shaman Helper
* Nomin Bayasgalan as Enkhtuyaa
* Valerie Planche as Maureen
Production
Development
On June 18, 2015, it was reported that Julie Kirkham was to produce a feature film titled ''Burn Your Maps'', written and directed by
Jordan Roberts. The film was green-lit by producer
Mark Canton
Mark Canton (born June 19, 1949) is an American film producer and executive.
Life and early career
Canton was born to a Jewish family in Queens, New York, the son of Shirley and Arthur Canton, who worked in the film industry on marketing and publ ...
a few days prior to Kirkham's death. ''Burn Your Maps'' is a feature film adaptation of author Robyn Joy Leff's short story of the same name. Canton and
Courtney Solomon
Courtney Solomon (born September 1,1970) is a writer, director, producer, and entrepreneur from Toronto, Ontario. He has been involved with production, marketing and distribution of over 80 movies.
Life and career
At 19, he formed Sweetpea Ente ...
serve as producers under their
Cinelou Films
Cinelou Films is an American film production and distribution company founded by Courtney Solomon in 2014. The company's first release was ''Cake'' (2014), starring Jennifer Aniston.
Background
In 2014, Courtney Solomon launched a production comp ...
banner, with Patrick Aiello producing through his Patrick Aiello Productions.
Jonathan Goldsmith
Jonathan Goldsmith (born September 26, 1938) is an American character actor. He began his career on the New York stage, then started a career in film and television. He appeared in several TV shows from the 1960s to the 1990s. He is best known ...
composed the film's musical score.
Casting
The casting of
Vera Farmiga
Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress who is best known for portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films '' The Conjuring'' (2013), '' The Conjuring 2'' (2016), '' Annabelle Co ...
,
Virginia Madsen
Virginia Gayle Madsen (born September 11, 1961) is an American actress and film producer. She made her film debut in ''Class'' (1983), which was filmed in her native Chicago. After she moved to Los Angeles, director David Lynch cast her as Pri ...
,
Suraj Sharma
Suraj Sharma (born 21 March 1993) is an Indian actor who made his debut in the 2012 film ''Life of Pi''. Directed by Ang Lee, the film was adapted from the novel of the same name, and earned Sharma critical acclaim as well as a BAFTA Rising St ...
, and
Jacob Tremblay
Jacob Tremblay ( ; born October 5, 2006) is a Canadian actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Canadian Screen Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, a Young Artist Award, and nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award, tw ...
was reported on July 23, 2015.
Marton Csokas
Marton Paul Csokas (, hu, Csókás Márton Pál; born 30 June 1966) is a Hungarian-New Zealand actor of film, stage, and television. A graduate of the Toi Whakaari drama school, he has worked extensively in Australia and Hollywood, along with ...
' casting was confirmed near the end of production, on August 28, 2015.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada on July 27, 2015, and was completed on September 2, 2015. Filming took place in nearby
Kananaskis Country
Kananaskis Country is a multi-use area west of Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the foothills and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. The area is named for the Kananaskis River, which was named by John Palliser in 1858 after a Cree acquaintance. Cove ...
, at the
Stoney Indian Reserves, which doubled for
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
. Scenes were also filmed at the
Eighth Avenue Place
Eighth Avenue Place is a twin-tower building complex located in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The complex includes a 49-storey East tower, 40-storey West office tower, and a three-storey indoor urban park.
The complex is housed on th ...
tower, which doubled for an American office space and for a
Tokyo International Airport
, officially , and sometimes called as Tokyo Haneda Airport or Haneda International Airport , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary ...
terminal. Over one hundred Calgary residents of Mongolian heritage were hired to act in minor roles.
Release
''Burn Your Maps'' first screened at the
2016 Toronto International Film Festival
The 41st annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 8 to 18 September 2016. The first announcement of films to be screened at the festival took place on 26 July. Almost 400 films were shown.
Awards
The festival's final awards were ...
on September 9, 2016, and had its red carpet premiere at the festival on September 15. It was initially scheduled for
limited release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
on February 24, 2017, before expanding at a later date. The release date was subsequently pushed back to March 17, 2017, with a
wide release In the American motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical re ...
following on March 24, 2017. However, it was ultimately pulled from the schedule.
Vertical Entertainment
Vertical Entertainment is an American film distribution and production company founded by producers Richard B. "Rich" Goldberg and Mitch Budin in 2012.
History
In 2012, Rich Goldberg & Mitch Budin founded Vertical Entertainment, a film distribut ...
distributed the film in the United States. The film was distributed internationally by
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of liv ...
as part of a six-film deal with Cinelou. It was released on June 21, 2019.
Critical reception
''Burn Your Maps'' holds a 67% approval rating on review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 15 reviews, with a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
of 7.04/10. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film holds a rating of 50 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average".
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burn Your Maps
2016 films
2010s coming-of-age comedy films
2010s road comedy-drama films
American coming-of-age comedy-drama films
American road comedy-drama films
Cinelou Films films
Films about children
Films about families
Films shot in Calgary
Films set in Chicago
Films set in Ohio
Films set in Mongolia
Warner Bros. films
2016 comedy films
2016 drama films
2010s English-language films
Films directed by Jordan Roberts
2010s American films