SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2026 REVIEW! Co-writer/director Mohammed Ali Naqvi and co-writer Bilal Sami present the terror of a 2023 cable car incident in Pakistan in his documentary Hanging by a Wire. In August 2023, near the city of Battagram, Pakistan, two cables snapped on a cable car used by local residents for daily commuting to school across a mountain pass.
Six children and two adults were stranded 900 feet up. Naqvi paints the timeline of media coverage and rescue attempts, editing in drone footage showing the victims braced inside the sideways dangling car. He also includes a mobile phone video shot inside the vehicle. The most urgent issue was that the cable car was suspended on only one wire, which could break at any time, as it was not meant to hold the weight of the vehicle. One man tried to get to the car using a home-brew contraption, but authorities recalled him, fearing he would make the situation worse or die himself. The cable car facility was manufactured locally, roughly designed, and poorly built.
Battagram is in an isolated part of the Himalayas that had never had media coverage, but they quickly came to the rescue. Pakistan army helicopters arrived, and after five hours, stranded rescue attempts began. Shifting strong winds in the mountain pass made it treacherous for the pilots. They needed to keep the aircraft stable while avoiding striking the cable car and the nearly invisible wire holding the car, as well as another wire 15 feet above the car. The rotor downdraft caused the car to rock. A rescuer was lowered at great risk to himself and gave harnesses to those inside. One of the victims was pulled up to the chopper, then the rescue cord became tangled with the cable and had to be cut. As sundown approached, the helicopter attempts were suspended.
“…two cables snapped on a cable car used by local residents for daily commuting to school across a mountain pass.”
A local named Sahib Khan pulled himself across the cable from the far side of the pass without approval from the authorities. On the opposite side, a seasoned zip-line specialist named Ali Swafti was gearing up. Swafti is a big personality, introducing himself as the best-looking man in his family. The operations were dramatically more complex and dangerous in the dark. Khan was told to end his rescues in favor of Swati, but he ignored the order. As Swati and a man named Ilyas began the traverse in the dark over the damaged wire, it was clear that Swati’s bombastic self-promotion was not exaggerated, as he bravely pushed on. Upon arrival at the car, Swati encounters Khan, and an argument ensues 900 feet above the ground. The rescue had several setbacks as the first group came across lost tension on the rope, pulling them in, and slid backwards along the wire twice. Swati was injured,d and an army commando took his place to complete the rescue. All the passengers were rescued.
Interviews with those who were trapped in the cable car, as well as parents of the children, reveal the terror and resignation they felt facing the certainty of death. In the excitement of the interview, they switch back and forth from English to Urdu. Naqvi uses footage from the day, interviews, and reenactments. Drone footage in particular brings the viewer into the middle of the horrific experience, while ubiquitous mobile phone cameras provided extensive video as well.
