What if your daily ride to school suddenly left you hanging 900 feet above the ground - with just one cable keeping you alive? That's exactly what happened to eight people in Battagram's Allai Valley in August 2023 - a terrifying real-life rescue operation that is now being brought to the big screen. Titled Hanging By A Wire, the documentary explores the dramatic Battagram chairlift rescue, while also highlighting the region's underdevelopment, poor infrastructure and, most importantly, the courage of its local people.
Speaking to Geo Digital, producer, director and writer M Ali Naqvi said he wanted to take the story of these local heroes to a global audience. "It was the first time [...] local people and the administration came together to save the lives of eight people trapped in a chairlift. This is an underdeveloped area, but the skill with which the locals carried out the rescue deserves immense appreciation," Naqvi said.
He said the documentary is also an attempt to draw attention to the children who continue to rely on chairlifts to get to school. "We want the system to become safer for these children. Through this film, we are also trying to work with NGOs on projects that can help improve the infrastructure," he said.
The documentary is set to release in cinemas across Pakistan later this year. On August 23, 2023, two cables of a chairlift in Battagram suddenly snapped, leaving the lift dangling from a single cable nearly 900 feet above the ground, with eight people trapped inside. Pakistan Army personnel managed to rescue one person using a helicopter, while zipline experts Ali Swati and Sahib Khan brought the remaining seven to safety after a 12-hour operation.