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ABOUT THE FILM

Lost in the Jungle

TV-14

After a deadly plane crash strands four young siblings deep within the Colombian rainforest, a dramatic rescue mission unfolds, uniting Indigenous trackers and the military in a race against time. For the first time ever, LOST IN THE JUNGLE offers the exclusive account of this incredible true story directly from the children themselves and the rescuers who scoured the Amazon rainforest for a grueling 40 days and nights to find them. From National Geographic Documentary Films and Academy Award®-winning filmmakers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, along with Emmy® Award-winning director Juan Camilo Cruz, LOST IN THE JUNGLE is a gripping tale of survival, courage and hope

Rated: TV-14

BIOS

Meet the Filmmakers

  • CHAI VASARHELYI

    DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER

    Chai Vasarhelyi is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker with a storied history of critically acclaimed films. In 2019, she, along with co-director and co-producer Jimmy Chin, was awarded the Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Documentary Feature for “Free Solo,” an intimate, unflinching portrait of rock climber Alex Honnold. The film also received seven Emmy Awards. In 2023, she also co-directed her first scripted feature, “Nyad” for Netflix, which saw both stars Annette Bening and Jodie Foster receiving Academy Award nominations. More recently, Vasarhelyi was also honored with a Peabody and a News & Documentary Emmy Award for co-directing and producing the acclaimed Nat Geo series “Photographer.” In the fall of 2025, she has two new feature documentaries for National Geographic Documentary Films premiering: “Love+War,” on the acclaimed war photographer Lynsey Addario, and “Lost in the Jungle,” on the incredible true story of four children who survived a plane crash in the Colombian Jungle. In 2021, she co-directed the BAFTA and DGA-nominated documentary “The Rescue,” which chronicled the enthralling, against-all-odds story that transfixed the world in 2018—the daring rescue of twelve boys and their coach from deep inside a flooded cave in northern Thailand. Other projects include “Return to Space,” about SpaceX and NASA’s first joint spaceflight, which hit the Top 10 on Netflix’s most-watched films list, and the series “Edge of the Unknown with Jimmy Chin” for National Geographic. Her feature “Meru” won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015 and was on the 2016 Oscar® shortlist for Best Documentary Feature.

  • JIMMY CHIN

    DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER

    Jimmy Chin is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, an award-winning National Geographic photographer and a professional climber and skier. He has led and documented cutting-edge expeditions around the world for over 20 years. He has climbed and skied Mount Everest from the summit and made the coveted first ascent of the Shark’s Fin on Mount Meru. His photographs have graced the covers of National Geographic magazine and The New York Times Magazine. In 2019, Chin, along with co-director and co-producer Chai Vasarhelyi, was awarded a BAFTA and the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for “Free Solo,” an intimate, unflinching portrait of rock climber Alex Honnold. The film also received seven Emmy Awards. More recently, he co-directed his first scripted feature, “Nyad” for Netflix, which saw both stars Annette Bening and Jodie Foster receiving Academy Award nominations. In the fall of 2025, Chin has two new feature documentaries for National Geographic Documentary Films premiering: “ Love+War,” on acclaimed war photographer Lynsey Addario, and “Lost in the Jungle,” on the incredible true story of four children who survived a plane crash in the Colombian Jungle. Additional projects include the BAFTA and DGA-nominated “The Rescue” and the 2015 Sundance Audience Award winner “Meru.” Chin was also the face of National Geographic’s critically acclaimed series “Edge of the Unknown With Jimmy Chin,” which premiered in 2022. Chin lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and is the dedicated father of daughter Marina and son James.

  • JUAN CAMILO CRUZ

    DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER

    Juan Camilo Cruz, honored with both an Emmy and a BAFTA, served as executive producer of the Apple TV+ documentary series “Messi’s World Cup: The Rise of a Legend” (2023), chronicling Lionel Messi's historic run during the 2022 World Cup. Throughout his career, Camilo Cruz has gained recognition for his work as a producer on acclaimed projects, including “In Her Hands” (2022), a Netflix documentary about the youngest female mayor in Afghanistan, directed by Oscar-nominated Marcel Mettelsiefen and produced in collaboration with Hillary Clinton’s HiddenLight Productions. He has also collaborated with Oscar-nominated director Matthew Heineman on films such as “City of Ghosts” (2017) and “The Boy from Medellín”(2020), both for Amazon Studios, exploring the war in Syria and the life of Colombian musician J Balvin, respectively.

    As a director, Camilo Cruz led the documentary “Venezuela: Country of Lost Children” (2023) for ARTE (Germany). In 2025, his film “A Simple Soldier,” co-directed with Sundance-winning filmmaker Artem Ryzhykov and produced by Propagate Content and Ventureland, premiered at Sheffield DocFest — a film about the transformation of a filmmaker into a soldier on the frontlines of Ukraine, filmed over three and a half years. His next film, “Lost in the Jungle,” is co-directed with Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin and produced by Little Monster and Lightbox for National Geographic Documentary Films. Juan is an active member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA).

PHOTO GALLERY

  • A recreation scene of Magdalena and the four children approaching the plane with their bags. (Credit: National Geographic/Anita Gallón M.)

    A recreation scene of Magdalena and the four children approaching the plane with their bags. (Credit: National Geographic/Anita Gallón M.)

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    A recreation scene of Magdalena and the four children approaching the plane with their bags. (Credit: National Geographic/Anita Gallón M.)

    A recreation scene of Magdalena and the four children approaching the plane with their bags. (Credit: National Geographic/Anita Gallón M.)

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  • The Indigenous search team and Colombian military stand together in the jungle with the national flag. (Credit: Indigenous Rescue Team)

    The Indigenous search team and Colombian military stand together in the jungle with the national flag. (Credit: Indigenous Rescue Team)

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    The Indigenous search team and Colombian military stand together in the jungle with the national flag. (Credit: Indigenous Rescue Team)

    The Indigenous search team and Colombian military stand together in the jungle with the national flag. (Credit: Indigenous Rescue Team)

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  • An animation of Tien, Lesly, Cristin and Soleiny in the jungle. (Credit: National Geographic)

    An animation of Tien, Lesly, Cristin and Soleiny in the jungle. (Credit: National Geographic)

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    An animation of Tien, Lesly, Cristin and Soleiny in the jungle. (Credit: National Geographic)

    An animation of Tien, Lesly, Cristin and Soleiny in the jungle. (Credit: National Geographic)

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    • CREDITS

    Directed By Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Juan Camilo Cruz

    Produced by Mark Grieco, Juan Camilo Cruz, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Anna Barnes, Simon Chinn, Jonathan Chinn, Guillermo Galdos

    Executive Producers Carolyn Bernstein, Tim Horsburgh, Josh Braun, Luis Del Valle, Hollman Morris

    Edited by Deborah Dickson, Flavia de Souza

    Co-Executive Producer and Director of Photography Max Preiss

    Music By Claudia Sarne