Pakistani documentary Hanging by a Wire has received the Sabeen Mahmud Award for Courage in Cinema at the Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival (MISAFF), according to Dawn Images, adding another international recognition to the film days after it was selected as Pakistan's submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.
Directed by Mohammed Ali Naqvi, the documentary screened at MISAFF in Mississauga on October 1, 2026. The festival's official programme lists the screening alongside a question-and-answer session with Naqvi.
The MISAFF recognition comes during a significant period for the documentary, which has moved through several international film festivals in 2026 while documenting the 2023 Battagram cable-car rescue in Pakistan.
Pakistan selected Hanging by a Wire for the Academy Awards
Pakistan selected Hanging by a Wire as its submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, according to the country's Academy selection committee, as reported by Dawn.
The selection makes it the first documentary chosen by Pakistan for this Academy Awards category.
Being selected as Pakistan's submission does not mean the documentary has received an Oscar nomination. It represents Pakistan's chosen film for consideration in the Best International Feature Film category, with any later Academy recognition forming a separate stage of the process.
What Hanging by a Wire documents
Hanging by a Wire reconstructs the August 2023 cable-car rescue in Battagram, Pakistan.
According to the Sundance Institute and MISAFF's description of the documentary, eight passengers, including six schoolboys, were stranded in a cable car about 900 feet above a ravine.
From Sundance to MISAFF
The latest recognition follows an international festival run that began with the film's world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it was selected for the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
The documentary subsequently screened at the Tribeca Festival before appearing at MISAFF in Canada.
That chronology places the MISAFF recognition within a broader 2026 run for the Pakistani documentary: a Sundance world premiere, a Tribeca screening, its MISAFF appearance, selection as Pakistan's Academy Awards submission and, according to Dawn Images, the Sabeen Mahmud Award for Courage in Cinema.
What happens next
Pakistan's selection of Hanging by a Wire establishes the documentary as the country's submission for consideration in the Best International Feature Film category. The submission does not make the film an Oscar nominee or shortlisted title, as those stages come later in the Academy Awards process.
For now, its MISAFF recognition adds to a 2026 international festival journey that has taken a documentary about the Battagram rescue from Sundance to Tribeca and MISAFF, while also making it Pakistan's first documentary selected for submission in this Academy Awards category.
