EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is to tell the miracle story of the four children who survived 40 days in the Colombian jungle via a feature doc from Oscar-winner Orlando Von Einsiedel, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer‘s Imagine Documentaries, and Grain Media.
The streamer has confirmed The Lost Children, which will air next month. The doc brings together those who were closely involved with the incredible, headline-grabbing story – the Colombian Army, Indigenous volunteer rescuers and the children’s family.
After a small plane crashed last year in the remote Amazonian jungle, killing all adults on board, the only survivors were four indigenous children aged between 11 months and 13 years old. The Mucutuy siblings were forced to rely on every survival instinct they had and somehow survived for 40 days before being rescued.
The doc has been in the works for a little while and von Einsiedel, who won an Oscar for The White Helmets and was nommed for Virunga, is lead director, with Jorge Durán and Lali Houghton co-directing.
Howard and Grazer are EPs. Vice-backed Grain Media is producing in association with Imagine Documentaries, Caracol Televisión and One Day’s Walk.
The news comes off the back of a scripted project about the survival story from Gaz Alazraki (Father Of The Bride). We revealed Guillermo Calderón, one of Latin America’s most respected screenwriters and playwrights, is scripting the project several months back. Candle Media‘s Exile Content Studios is partnering with Colombian journalist Daniel Coronell on the as-yet untitled Spanish-language pic.
Lost Children is EP’d by Gonzalo Córdoba, José María Reyes, Grazer, Howard, Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Mark Bauch, Natalia Echeverri, Chloe Leland and Adam Mitchenall. Co-producers are Stefano Pozzebon, Jamie Berry and Richard Turley. Production execs are Gloria Luz Arenas and Caroline Willis.