Battagram cable car rescue documentary to represent Pakistan at Oscars
Pakistan has selected Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s documentary Hanging By a Wire as its official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.
This is the first time the country has chosen a documentary for the distinction, according to the Deadline website.
The film revisits the dramatic August 2023 rescue operation in Battagram, northern Pakistan, when six schoolchildren and two adults were stranded about 900 feet above the ground after a cable snapped on a makeshift cable car.
Directed, written and produced by Naqvi with Bilal Sami, Hanging By a Wire combines eyewitness footage, survivor testimony and cinematic reconstructions featuring people involved in the rescue.
The film documents the efforts of local residents who joined the rescue attempt, including cable car repairman Sahib Khan, known locally as a “sky pirate” for his aerial exploits, and Ali Swati, who had access to high-quality zipline equipment.
The rescue operation was overseen by Sonia Shamroz, the district’s police chief, who was responsible for the mission as authorities sought to save those trapped in the cable car.
“I’m honoured that Hanging By a Wire has been selected to represent Pakistan in the International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards,” Naqvi told Deadline, thanking the Pakistan Academy Selection Committee for choosing the film.
“It’s a straight-up disaster film, except it really happened, and you’re watching real footage of it unfolding live,” he said, adding that the local community had filmed the events and entrusted him with the footage.
Naqvi said the film also highlights the resilience of the people involved in both the rescue and documenting the incident.
The documentary premiered in the World Cinema Documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
It has also screened at the Tribeca Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival and the Sydney Film Festival.
The film is scheduled to screen next Friday at the 23rd annual Bend Film Festival in Oregon.
Hanging By a Wire is produced by EverWonder Studio, Universal Pictures Content Group, Mindhouse Productions and 64th Street Media.
Dogwoof is handling its theatrical distribution in the UK, while Abramorama is distributing it in the US.
A Paramount+ streaming release is scheduled for later this month.
Sana Zahra Jafri, deputy chairperson of the Pakistan Academy Selection Committee, called the selection a “historic milestone” for Pakistani documentary filmmaking and said it would bring the story from northern Pakistan into the International Feature Film Oscar race.