Pakistan has chosen Hanging by a Wire as its official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards. The Pakistan Academy Selection Committee announced the decision on October 3, marking the first time the country has ever submitted a documentary in this category.
Deputy chair Sana Zahra Jafri called the selection “a historic milestone for Pakistani documentary filmmaking.” The 77-minute film, directed by Mohammed Ali Naqvi and co-produced with Bilal Sami, chronicles the August 22, 2023 cable car emergency in Battagram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On that day, a cable snapped and left eight passengers, including six schoolboys, suspended roughly 900 feet above a ravine for nearly 13 hours. Rescue teams from the Pakistan Army and Air Force eventually saved all eight through helicopter evacuations and by sliding along the remaining cables.
“It’s a straight-up disaster film, except it really happened, and you’re watching real footage of it unfolding live,” Naqvi said. The director also chairs Pakistan’s Oscar Selection Committee and holds Academy membership.
The film has already built significant international momentum. It premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, then screened at Tribeca, the Sydney Film Festival, and the Seattle International Film Festival. Abramorama handled the North American theatrical release on August 28, while Dogwoof distributed it across UK cinemas. It will stream on Paramount+ starting October 28.
Production companies behind the project include Mindhouse Productions, EverWonder Studio, Universal Pictures Content Group, and 64th Street Media. The film was jointly produced across Pakistan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Pakistan’s Oscar history has been marked by long gaps and near misses. The country has submitted just 13 films since 1959, with a 50-year gap between its 1963 entry and the next in 2013. None have received a nomination. The closest breakthrough came when Saim Sadiq’s Joyland reached the Oscar shortlist in 2022. Last year, Pakistan failed to submit any entry after coordination failures caused the deadline to lapse.
Naqvi described the film as proof that Pakistani stories can compete globally on their own terms. “A story from our mountains, told by our own people, can be a full-blooded action thriller,” he said.
