The Pakistan Oscar submission is Hanging by a Wire, a documentary directed by Mo Naqvi, the Pakistan Academy Selection Committee announced Oct. 2, according to The Express Tribune. It is the first time the country has picked a documentary for the International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.
Pakistan Oscar submission is a first for documentaries
Deputy chairperson Sana Zahra Jafri called the choice “a historic milestone for Pakistani documentary filmmaking,” the Tribune reported.
Naqvi wrote and produced the film with Bilal Sami. It recounts the August 2023 cable car accident in Battagram, in northern Pakistan, when a snapped cable left eight people stranded about 900 feet above the ground. Six of them were schoolchildren and two were adults, according to the Tribune.
The film premiered in the World Cinema Documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival. It then screened at the Tribeca, Seattle and Sydney film festivals.
Pakistan’s Oscar history
Pakistan has never earned an Oscar nomination, according to Wikipedia’s list of the country’s submissions. Joyland became the first Pakistani submission to reach the 15-film shortlist, for the 95th Academy Awards.
The Pakistan Oscar submission was also reported by Deadline. For more film news, see our stories on the James Baldwin movie, the London Film Festival jury and the Tokyo Film Festival 2026.
