My Side of the Mountain

Thirteen-year-old Sam Gribley (Teddy Eccles) decides to leave his parents' apartment in Toronto to spend time alone in the Canadian woods, inspired by Henry David Thoreau's ideas on self-sufficiency. He gathers supplies and heads down the 401 with his pet raccoon Gus, eventually finding a home in an old dead tree where he builds an algae experiment. After a falcon named Frightful becomes his companion, Sam meets Bando (Theodore Bikel), an older man who shares survival ideas and folklore with him, before saying goodbye as winter approaches.