Pakistani filmmaker Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s documentary thriller Hanging by a Wire will premiere on the opening day of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on August 28.
The film revisits the dramatic 2023 cable car rescue in Battagram. A cable car carrying children to school became stranded after one of its cables snapped in the Himalayan foothills.
Six children and two adults remained suspended around 900 feet above the ground. After a rescue operation lasting nearly 14 hours, authorities and local rescuers brought all eight passengers to safety.
Rescue Became a Global Social Media Event
Naqvi told Variety that the incident became one of the first rescue operations to unfold as a major social media phenomenon.
Drones, television crews and people at the scene recorded the emergency from several angles. The footage quickly attracted global attention and pushed authorities to launch a large-scale rescue operation.
The filmmaker described Hanging by a Wire as a “full-on, Hollywood-style action thriller.”
However, he said the documentary deliberately avoids portraying people from the region only through poverty, helplessness and victimhood.
Naqvi wanted the film to present local residents as resilient people with agency. He also wanted to portray the rescuers as heroes.
Film Highlights Battagram’s Transport Crisis
Beyond the rescue itself, the documentary aims to draw attention to everyday life in Battagram district.
Many communities in the mountainous region rely on makeshift cable cars because proper roads are unavailable.
In a video shared by the Sundance Institute, Naqvi explained that these cable cars remain an essential but dangerous form of transport.
During location scouting, he decided to ride one himself.
“It’s petrifying,” Naqvi said. He recalled reaching the middle of the journey and deciding that he would never take such a ride again.
Rescuers Faced a Race Against Time
Local experts told Naqvi that the damaged cable involved in the 2023 incident was unlikely to remain intact for more than 10 hours.
This created an urgent race against time for the rescue teams.
Naqvi said the documentary presents the incident mainly from the rescuers’ perspective. They had only a few hours to act and risked their lives to save the stranded children and adults.
Local Heroes Take Centre Stage
The film focuses on several people who played important roles in the operation.
They include local wire repairman Sahib Khan. Naqvi described him as the community’s trusted rescuer and a “sky pirate.”
The documentary also features professional rescuer Ali Swati. He is a gymnast and operates what Naqvi described as the world’s largest zipline.
Police officer Sonia Shamroz also appears in the film for her crucial role during the rescue operation.
Rescue Footage Captured From Every Angle
The emergency unfolded live on television and social media.
People recorded footage from the ground, while cameras also captured events from inside the stranded cable car.
Naqvi said this provided the filmmakers with an unprecedented archive of material.
The team used the extensive footage to tell the story with the scale, pacing and ambition of a Hollywood action thriller, even though the events were real.
Documentary Goes Beyond the 2023 Rescue
Hanging by a Wire does more than reconstruct a dramatic rescue.
The documentary also highlights the daily risks faced by communities that depend on unsafe cable cars for transportation.
Through the story of the stranded passengers and those who saved them, the film presents a wider account of courage, resilience and survival in one of Pakistan’s most challenging mountainous regions.
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deserves oscar 😂🤣