Hanging by a Wire marks debut entry in Pakistan’s Oscar race

Pakistan has selected Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s documentary Hanging by a Wire as its submission for the international feature film Oscar at the 99th Academy Awards, marking the first time a documentary has represented the country in the category.

The Pakistan Academy Selection Committee made the selection, which was announced by the committee’s deputy chair Sana Zahra Jafri and described as a historic milestone for Pakistani documentary filmmaking.

Directed, written and produced by Naqvi, with Bilal Sami also serving as writer and producer, Hanging by a Wire revisits the August 2023 cable car emergency in Battagram, northern Pakistan. Eight passengers, including six schoolboys travelling to school, were left suspended around 900 feet above a ravine after a cable snapped.

The resulting rescue operation was followed live across Pakistan and internationally.

The documentary uses footage from witnesses, testimony from survivors and staged reenactments involving people who took part in the rescue to tell the story.

Hanging by a Wire premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition before screening at the Tribeca Festival.

The film is produced by EverWonder Studio, Universal Pictures Content Group, Mindhouse Productions and 64th Street Media. Dogwoof holds its theatrical distribution rights in the UK, while Abramorama is handling its US theatrical release.

The film is scheduled to stream on Paramount+ from October 28.

The selection brings the Battagram rescue story into the International Feature Film Oscar race as Pakistan’s representative for this awards cycle.

Pakistan has submitted 13 films in the category since 1959 without receiving a nomination. Saim Sadiq’s Joyland remains the country’s only film to reach the shortlist, in 2022.