LOST IN THE AMAZON Premieres on PBS: Secrets of the Dead April 20, 2011 @ 8 pm (check local listings)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A modern explorer travels to Brazil to find out what happened to the real Indiana Jones.  In the early part of the 20th century Royal Geographical Society explorer Col. Percy Fawcett was the toughest man in the Amazon.  He explored and mapped the wild jungle borders of Bolivia and Brazil: he survived Indian attacks, snakes and disease to become a legend in his own time.  He came back with fantastic stories of bizarre jungle creatures and lost cities inhabited by pale-skinned Indians.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110407/LA78035)

In 1925, Col. Percy Fawcett took his son and friend on an expedition across central Brazil to find an ancient civilization, a Lost City which he named "Z".  His dispatches were read by millions in newspapers around the world.  Then he disappeared forever.  Dozens of expeditions set out in search of the Colonel ... many did not survive their journey into the far reaches of the Amazon jungle.

The Amelia Earhart story of its day, Fawcett's adventures inspired books and Hollywood movies: from Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World to the movie serials of the 1930's and 40's ... all of which led directly to Indiana Jones.

Now armed with secret family documents and new clues, adventurer/biologist Niall McCann travels to England and South America to unravel the mystery of Fawcett's disappearance.  Using ancient manuscripts in Brazilian archives and the testimony of local Indians, Niall puts together a new picture of what happened to Fawcett.

Watch the PBS Special to discover the truth and find out if Amazonian lost cities really do exist.

LOST IN THE AMAZON is produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Peter von Puttkamer and producer Sheera von Puttkamer of Gryphon Productions Ltd.  Executive Producer for WNET/THIRTEEN (PBS) is William Grant.  

SOURCE Gryphon Productions Ltd.