Hanging by a Wire: The True Story Behind Pakistan's First Documentary Oscar Entry
On the morning of 22 August 2023, the whole world watched a cable car hang over a valley in northern Pakistan. Six schoolboys and two adults were inside when a cable snapped and left them stranded high above a ravine, with no road, no rescue equipment and very little time. By the end of the night, all eight were alive.
Hanging by a Wire tells that story almost entirely through footage shot on the day by the people who were there. It premiered at Sundance in January, and in October Pakistan chose it as its Oscar entry, the first documentary the country has ever sent.
Where to watch Hanging by a Wire
| How | Where | From |
|---|---|---|
| Streaming (subscription) | Paramount+, in countries where it's offered | 28 October 2026 |
| Rent or buy | Digital stores such as Amazon and Apple TV | 13 October 2026 |
| Cinemas | US (Abramorama) and UK (Dogwoof), limited release | 28 August 2026 |
The film opened in a handful of cinemas in the US and the UK at the end of August, starting at New York's Quad Cinema, and went to digital rental on 13 October. Its subscription debut is on Paramount+ on 28 October. We haven't found a confirmed release in Pakistani cinemas or on a Pakistani streaming service yet, and we'll add one here if it's announced.
The true story: the Battagram cable car rescue
Allai, in Battagram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is mountain country, and for many families there the quickest way across the valley is a privately run cable car. On the morning of 22 August 2023, a car carrying schoolboys on their way to school was halfway across when a cable gave way. The car stopped dead, hanging over a ravine with eight people inside: six children and two adults.
How high they were depends on who you ask. Pakistan's disaster authority put it at about 900 feet, the figure most reports used; the army's statement said 600. What nobody disputed was the danger. The remaining cable was carrying the whole weight, there was no maintained equipment for a rescue, and the people on the ground could only guess how long it would hold.
Army commandos were flown in by helicopter, but once night fell the helicopters could no longer fly, and the rest of the rescue was carried out along the surviving cable using a makeshift chairlift, with local cable-car workers and ziplining experts working alongside the military. After more than twelve hours in the air, the last of the eight was brought to the ground late that night. Everyone survived. Afterwards, Pakistan's caretaker prime minister ordered safety inspections of privately run cable cars.
How the film tells it
Hanging by a Wire is built almost entirely from material shot on the day: drone footage taken by a bystander, phone videos from onlookers and from the boys inside the car, villagers' social media posts and news broadcasts. Director Mohammed Ali Naqvi and co-writer Bilal Sami fill the gaps with reconstructions acted out by the real people involved, and interviews with the boys' fathers, the district police chief, a helicopter pilot, a cable-car operator and two zipliners.
“We didn't just want to make this movie with them, we wanted to have them co-author it.”
The result plays like a thriller, structured around the ticking clock of a cable nobody trusted. One of the fathers joined the Sundance screening by video and said the village wanted to tell its own story, in the hope it would bring development to the area.
Hanging by a Wire reviews
Critics agree on the footage and disagree about everything around it. The Playlist called the rescue "as compelling as any Hollywood thriller", and Screen Daily called the film gripping. The Hollywood Reporter praised the "jaw-dropping footage" but felt it was undermined by generic documentary storytelling, and IndieWire found it taut but superficial. The most common complaint, from The Guardian and The Film Stage too, is that the film is so focused on the rescue that it barely asks why a community depends on an unmaintained cable car in the first place.
Pakistan at the Oscars: can it get nominated?
Pakistan has submitted a film for the international feature award only 13 times, starting with Jago Hua Savera in 1959, and there was a 50-year gap between its second entry in 1963 and its third, Zinda Bhaag, in 2013. No Pakistani film has ever been nominated in the category. The closest it came was Saim Sadiq's Joyland, which made the shortlist in 2022.
Hanging by a Wire is the first documentary Pakistan has submitted, and that cuts both ways. Documentaries rarely compete in the international category, but it can happen: Denmark's animated documentary Flee was nominated for international feature and for best documentary in the same year. An international co-production with a Sundance premiere, a run at the Sydney Film Festival and a distributor behind it in the US, it is also better positioned than most Pakistani entries have been. The Academy normally announces its shortlist in December and the nominations in January, and we'll update this page at each stage.
Pakistan's only Oscar wins so far have come in a different category: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won Best Documentary Short twice, for Saving Face and A Girl in the River.
For more Pakistani films in cinemas this year, see our Pakistani movies coverage.
Quick answers
Where can I watch Hanging by a Wire?
On Paramount+ from 28 October 2026, in countries where the service is available. It's also available to rent or buy on digital stores such as Amazon and Apple TV from 13 October.
Is Hanging by a Wire on Netflix?
No. Its streaming home is Paramount+.
Is Hanging by a Wire a true story?
Yes. It's a documentary about the real cable car accident in Battagram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on 22 August 2023, made largely from footage filmed on the day.
Did everyone survive the Battagram cable car accident?
Yes. All eight people, six schoolboys and two adults, were rescued after more than twelve hours stranded above the ravine.
How long is Hanging by a Wire?
About 78 minutes.
Has Pakistan ever won an Oscar?
Yes, but not for a feature film. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won Best Documentary Short for Saving Face and A Girl in the River. No Pakistani film has yet been nominated for Best International Feature.
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