Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s Hanging by a Wire has been chosen as Pakistan’s entry for best international feature film at the 2027 Oscars.

The documentary, the first selected by Pakistan to contend at the Oscars, revisits a dramatic August 2023 cable car emergency in Battagram in northern Pakistan. The film, which bowed at Sundance and is written and produced by Naqvi and Bilal Sami, captures in jaw-dropping detail how six schoolboys on their way to school were left suspended roughly 900 feet above a ravine after a cable snapped.

That set off a rescue effort followed on live TV across Pakistan and around the world. Hanging by a Wire features eyewitness footage, survivor testimony and cinematic reconstructions that include rescue workers.

“What works best in the film, as is often the case with movies such as this, is the stitching together of actual footage from the ordeal, both the fuzzy faraway phone videos and the stomach-plunging drone shots capturing these young men in staggering close-up as they sit precariously in the overturned gondola, waiting desperately for rescue,” The Hollywood Reporter film reviewer Richard Lawson writes in his review.

“The stunning landscape surrounding them — verdant foothills in the foreground, snow-capped Himalayan massifs in the distance — heightens the surreality and loneliness of their experience, tiny figures suspended precariously amid the unforgiving majesty of the world,” he adds.

The film is produced by EverWonder Studio, Universal Pictures Content Group, Mindhouse Productions and 64th Street Media. Dogwoof is handling a theatrical release in the U.K., Abramorama will release the film in the U.S. A Paramount+ streaming release is set for Oct. 28, 2026.

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Chris Wayland will succeed Valari Staab as president of NBCUniversal Local, overseeing NBC and Telemundo local stations and other outlets.

Staab disclosed her plans to retire earlier this year, and will work with Wayland in the coming weeks, with the transition before the end of the year, according to Cesar Conde, chairman of NBCU News Group.

In addition to 11 NBC stations and 31 Telemundo stations, NBCU Local also includes four regional sports networks, three national multicast networks and 17 streaming channels, along with LXTV Productions and Skycastle.

Wayland joined NBCU in 2019, and has led NBC10 Boston, Telemundo Boston and NBC Sports Boston. Conde wrote in a memo to staffers that Wayland “has been instrumental in the growth of NBC10 and was a key leader in the development and launch of the NBCUniversal Boston Media Center.”

“Chris understands the power and importance of local media, and I know he will be an outstanding leader for NBCUniversal Local,” Conde wrote.

Staab has been with NBCU for more than 15 years and has spent 46 years in local TV and journalism.

“Under her leadership, what began as 10 NBC-owned stations grew into NBCUniversal Local’s nationwide, multiplatform portfolio of 50 media properties,” Conde wrote.

“Her impact can be seen not only in the organization she helped build, but in the generations of broadcasters and leaders she has supported and developed along the way,” he wrote.

In a statement, Staab said, “What gives me the greatest confidence is knowing that Chris leads with both vision and heart. He values our people, our culture, and the relationships that have been foundational to our success.”

Wayland previously was an executive at Tribune Media, Sinbeam Television and WHDH-TV.