For over an hour, six school kids and two adults dangled on the edge, their lives in grave jeopardy—stranded in a cable car suspended 900 feet above the ground. This harrowing incident, which unfolded in a remote section of Northern Pakistan in August 2023, captured the world’s attention as rescuers raced against time to save the trapped passengers from impending doom.
The tension and emotion of that day and night are powerfully captured in the documentary *Hanging By a Wire*, which premieres Thursday, the opening day of the Sundance Film Festival. Emmy-nominated filmmaker Mohammed Ali Naqvi directs, writes, and produces the film, which is screening in the World Cinema Documentary competition. We have your first look at the film in the clip above.
“With the clock ticking and pressure mounting, regional authorities, army commandos, and courageous local community members undertake dramatic risks to save the cable car passengers,” notes the Sundance program.
*Hanging By a Wire* explores more than just the rescue—it delves into the fault lines around class that emerge during the effort, raising questions about whose knowledge and expertise are valued and whose are dismissed, as well as why proper transportation infrastructure is lacking in these remote areas.
Drawing from up-close drone footage, on-the-ground recordings from the assembled community of onlookers, and skillful reenactments featuring actual participants from the incident, Naqvi constructs a riveting, unforgettable documentary thriller.
“There are no proper roads in the area where the incident took place,” Naqvi explains in a Meet the Filmmaker video from Sundance. “The way people get around in the mountains is by using makeshift cable cars. And it is so dangerous.”
Naqvi adds that he himself experienced the perils of this transport system. “During location scouting, I did this stupid thing of taking one.” His filmmaker video shows him aboard one such cable car, with only a crisscross metal gate separating him from a steep plunge.
On the morning of August 22, 2023, six teenagers were taking a cable car to school—a typical mode of travel—along with two other passengers when a high-tension coil suddenly snapped. The cable car tipped sideways, which could have easily dumped them all out.
What followed was a race against time as authorities, the military, and locals scrambled to devise a way to safely offload the passengers before the only remaining cable broke.
“The story is told through the rescuers who only have a few hours,” Naqvi comments. “They risk it all to save these kids.”
The filmmaker describes the ad hoc first responders as “a wild, mismatched bunch.” One key figure was Sahib Khan, a local cable car repairman known as a “sky pirate” for his aerial exploits. Another rescuer, the dashing Ali Swati, combined bravery, impressive strength, and access to high-quality zipline equipment. Overseeing the operation—and the likely fall person if the mission went awry—was Sonia Shamroz, “the district’s no-nonsense head of police.”
Ample footage was available for the documentary, as the whole community gathered to witness the attempted rescue, many recording the tension-filled moments on their cell phones. A drone even captured images from inside the cable car, where the children were crying in fear they might not survive.
“The entire rescue played out on live television, online, on the ground, and even from inside the cable car,” Naqvi recounts. “With such rich archive, we knew we had to tell this story with the scale and tension of a Hollywood action thriller, one that just happened to be a documentary.”
*Hanging By a Wire* was co-produced by EverWonder Studio and Mindhouse alongside Universal Pictures Content Group. Mohammed Ali Naqvi directed, produced, and co-wrote the film, with Bilal Sami serving as producer and co-writer. The cinematography is by Brendan McGinty, and Will Grayburn edited the film. Sven Faulconer composed the score. Executive producers include Ian Orefice, Amanda Spain, Jon Adler, Bonnie McGrath, Helen Parker, Nancy Strang, Aloke Devichand, and Arron Fellows.
In addition to its world premiere on Thursday, *Hanging By a Wire* will also screen in Park City on Friday, January 23, and again on January 29 and 30. It will have a screening in Salt Lake City on Saturday, January 24.
Watch a clip from *Hanging By a Wire* above and prepare to be gripped by this extraordinary true story of courage and survival.
https://deadline.com/2026/01/hanging-by-a-wire-interview-mohammed-ali-naqvi-1236692354/
