It was a summer afternoon in August 2023 when a routine school commute turned into a nightmare watched by the whole world. A cable car carrying schoolchildren and adults suddenly lurched over a deep ravine in Battagram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as two of its three supporting cables snapped. Eight people were left dangling nearly 900 feet above the Allai Valley, hanging in a tiny carriage for fourteen terrifying hours while rescue teams raced against time and fading daylight.
Now that extraordinary story is heading to the biggest stage in cinema. Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s documentary Hanging by a Wire, which reconstructs the rescue from footage shot on the day itself, has been officially selected as Pakistan’s submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards. It is the first documentary Pakistan has ever sent to compete in the category.
The Rescue the World Watched Live
The Battagram incident gripped Pakistan and the world in August 2023. The cable car — a lifeline for villagers crossing the deep Allai Valley — was carrying eight people, including several schoolchildren on their way home, when two of its three cables snapped. The remaining cable held, leaving the carriage swaying hundreds of feet in the air.
What followed was one of the most dramatic rescue operations in recent Pakistani history. Local volunteers, zipliners and Pakistan Army helicopter teams worked side by side through the day, with millions watching live on television and social media. All eight passengers were eventually brought to safety after a fourteen-hour ordeal — a rescue that was hailed internationally as a feat of remarkable courage.
Naqvi’s documentary tells the story almost entirely through footage shot on the day by the people who were there. He and co-writer Bilal Sami filled the gaps with reconstructions performed by the real people involved — the schoolboys, the rescue workers, the district police chief, a helicopter pilot and the cable-car operator — alongside interviews with the boys’ fathers. The film had its world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in January, where its real-life thriller pacing won immediate attention.
From Sundance to the Oscar Race
The film’s journey to the Oscars was announced on 1 October 2026, when Variety exclusively reported the Pakistan Academy Selection Committee’s decision. The announcement was made at the Mosaic International Film Festival in Mississauga, Canada, where the documentary also picked up the Sabeen Mahmud Award for Courage in Cinema.
The Pakistan Academy Selection Committee, which chooses the country’s entry each year, was led this cycle by deputy chairperson Sana Zahra Jafri. In a notable detail, filmmaker Mohammed Ali Naqvi — who has chaired the committee since 2023 — stepped aside from the role this year so he could submit his own film. “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 said after the announcement.
The film is a co-production between the United Kingdom, Pakistan and the United States, produced by EverWonder Studio, Universal Pictures Content Group, Louis Theroux’s Mindhouse Productions and 64th Street Media. It is presented in English, Urdu and Pashto. After its festival run at Sundance, Seattle and Sydney, the documentary began streaming in the United States on Paramount+ on 28 October 2026, with Dogwoof handling the theatrical release in the UK.
A Historic First for Pakistani Cinema
The selection marks a genuine milestone: never before has Pakistan chosen a documentary for the Best International Feature category. Sana Zahra Jafri described the selection as “a historical milestone for Pakistani documentary filmmaking.”
The choice also breaks with the country’s recent pattern of narrative feature submissions. It follows a decade in which Pakistan has increasingly leaned into bold, internationally recognised cinema — from Zinda Bhaag and Cake to Saim Sadiq’s Joyland, which became Pakistan’s first film to make the Oscars shortlist in 2022. A documentary built from real footage, shot by ordinary Pakistanis on their phones, represents a new kind of confidence: the belief that a Pakistani story, told in Pakistani voices, needs no fiction to stand on the world stage.
Pakistan’s Long Road to an Oscar Nod
Pakistan’s relationship with the Academy Awards stretches back to 1959, when Jago Hua Savera became the country’s first-ever submission. But the journey has been stop-start: there was a gap of nearly fifty years between Pakistan’s second entry in 1963 and its third, Zinda Bhaag, in 2013. In total, the country has submitted a film for the international feature award only thirteen times.
No Pakistani film has ever been nominated in the category. The closest the country has come was Joyland, Saim Sadiq’s acclaimed drama, which made the Academy’s shortlist in 2022 but did not advance to the final five. Pakistan’s only Oscar wins so far have come in a different category: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short twice, for Saving Face and A Girl in the River.
Hanging by a Wire now carries those hopes. Documentaries rarely compete in the international feature race, but it can happen — Denmark’s animated documentary Flee was nominated in the category and for Best Documentary in the same year, showing that the voters can embrace non-fiction filmmaking when the story demands it.
What Happens Next
The 99th Academy Awards’ international feature race has shattered its own record this year, with 105 countries submitting films — the most ever. The films were assigned to first-round voters, who will cast their ballots from 7 to 11 December. The Academy will announce the shortlist on 15 December, with final nominations following in January ahead of the ceremony in March 2027.
For Pakistan, the stakes are bigger than one film. A shortlist berth would match the Joyland milestone; a nomination would be an absolute first. Whatever happens, Hanging by a Wire has already written its name into the country’s film history — the little carriage that hung over the Allai Valley is now carrying Pakistan’s Oscar dream.
External links to include: https://hangingbyawiremovie.com (official film site) and https://variety.com (Variety’s exclusive announcement)
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