Hanging by a Wire

Directed by Mohammed Ali Naqvi
Pakistan
2026
77 mins
This nail-biting doc follows a desperate rescue attempt when a cable car carrying eight people fails 900 metres above a remote region of Pakistan. Sundance 2026.

High above the picturesque mountains of Battagram in northern Pakistan, a routine journey becomes a terrifying fight for survival when a cable car carrying eight people, including six schoolboys, suddenly fails – leaving them suspended 900 metres in the air. As two of the three cables snap and the last begins to give way, a race-against-time rescue mission unfolds under intense global media scrutiny. Drawing on footage recorded by onlookers, drone imagery and cinematic reconstructions, director Mohammed Ali Naqvi (The Accused: Damned or Devoted?) crafts an unforgettable and visually arresting documentary that plays like an adrenaline-fueled thriller, while revealing profound truths about class, inequality and resilience.

a nail-biting watch, one that never allows itself to become bogged down in excessive setup or backstory while allowing time for the pace to catch its breath just as it ratchets back to edge-of-your-seat fear.
Brian Farvour, The Playlist

Tickets

Sat 6 June 2026, 9:30am
State Theatre
Assisted ListeningWheelchair
Thu 11 June 2026, 8:20pm
Dendy Newtown - Cinema 1
Assisted ListeningWheelchair
Sun 14 June 2026, 6pm
Event George St - Cinema 5
Assisted ListeningWheelchair
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