‘Hanging by a Wire’ selected as Pakistan’s Oscar entry

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has selected filmmaker Muhammad Ali Mo Naqvi’s documentary “Hanging by a Wire” to represent the country for the international feature film Oscar at the 99th Academy Awards.

The selection was made by Pakistan’s Academy Selection Committee, marking the first time that a Pakistani documentary has been chosen to represent the country at the Oscars.

“Directed by Naqvi, and written and produced by Naqvi and Bilal Sami, the film revisits the August 2023 cable car emergency in Battagram, northern Pakistan,” noted a release announcing the film’s selection for the Best International Film category. “Combining eyewitness footage, survivor testimony and cinematic reconstructions featuring participants in the rescue, Hanging by a Wire unfolds as a documentary thriller.”

Pakistan’s Oscar journey

Pakistan first submitted a film for the category in 1959. However, none of the 13 films submitted by the country so far has secured an Oscar nomination.

Pakistan’s most notable progress came in 2022, when Saim Sadiq’s “Joyland” made the Oscars shortlist.

Battagram cable car tragedy at heart of film

Directed by Mo Naqvi, “Hanging by a Wire” tells the story of the dramatic cable car incident in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Battagram district in August 2023.

Eight people, including six children, became trapped in a locally operated cable car suspended around 900 feet above the Jhangri River.

The passengers became stranded in the morning, with rescue efforts continuing until late at night. An initial attempt to rescue them by helicopter succeeded in saving two children, after which rescuers managed to bring out the remaining passengers one by one.

All eight passengers were eventually rescued.

The cable car was the only means available to children in the area to cross the Jhangri River, as there were no roads or bridges connecting the two sides. Naqvi co-wrote and co-produced the film with Bilal Sami.

Mo Naqvi thanks Pakistan Academy Selection Committee

“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, and grateful to the Pakistan Academy Selection Committee,” Naqvi told Deadline exclusively.

“It’s a straight-up disaster film, except it really happened, and you’re watching real footage of it unfolding live. The community on the ground filmed it themselves and trusted me with that footage, so in a real sense they co-authored this film with me. How resilient and resourceful they were, both in the rescue and in documenting it, is what the film is about, and there’s nothing more Pakistani than that.”

‘I want to show what Pakistani cinema can do’

In a statement issued in July, Naqvi said the film represented what Pakistani cinema was capable of achieving.

He said that a story from Pakistan’s mountains, told by Pakistanis themselves, could become a compelling action thriller capable of opening a major film festival, travelling to leading festivals around the world and attracting the backing of a major Hollywood studio.

Naqvi said that Pakistani stories did not need to be small or serious to matter, adding that he hoped the film would open doors for more Pakistani productions.

Film makes international festival circuit

“Hanging by a Wire” is a joint production involving teams from Pakistan, the United States and the United Kingdom, with Universal Pictures Content Group also involved in the production.

The film has already travelled to several international film festivals. It had its world premiere on the opening day of this year’s Sundance Film Festival and was also screened at film festivals in Sydney, Seattle and New York’s Tribeca.