Oscars: Pakistan Selects Documentary ‘Hanging by a Wire’ for International Feature Race (EXCLUSIVE)

Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s documentary thriller “Hanging by a Wire” has been selected as Pakistan‘s submission for the international feature film Oscar at the 99th Academy Awards, marking the first time a documentary has represented the country in the category.

The Pakistan Academy Selection Committee made the selection, calling it a historic milestone for Pakistani documentary filmmaking. The announcement was issued by Sana Zahra Jafri, deputy chair of the committee.

“Hanging by a Wire” is directed by Naqvi and written and produced by Naqvi and Bilal Sami. The film revisits the August 2023 cable car emergency in Battagram, in northern Pakistan, in which eight passengers, including six schoolboys on their way to school, were left suspended roughly 900 feet above a ravine after a cable snapped. The resulting rescue effort was followed live across Pakistan and internationally.

The film draws on footage from witnesses, testimony from survivors and staged reenactments involving people who took part in the rescue to build its account.

“Hanging by a Wire” debuted at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, in the World Cinema Documentary Competition lineup, before going on to play the Tribeca Festival.

The film is produced by EverWonder Studio, Universal Pictures Content Group, Mindhouse Productions and 64th Street Media. Dogwoof holds theatrical distribution rights in the U.K., with Abramorama handling U.S. theatrical release. The film is set for a streaming release on Paramount+ on Oct. 28.

The pick brings the Battagram rescue story into the International Feature Film Oscar race as Pakistan’s representative for this awards cycle.

Pakistan has submitted 13 films in the category since 1959 without a nomination, with Saim Sadiq’s “Joyland’ marking its only shortlist appearance, in 2022.