High in the Himalayan foothills, eight passengers find themselves in a desperate fight for survival when a cable car suddenly breaks down mid-journey, hanging precariously over a vast ravine. With only a single cable line still holding, an extraordinary rescue effort takes shape, drawing on the courage and quick thinking of the community below.

Director Mohammed Ali Naqvi places viewers at the center of this unfolding crisis as the scene seizes the world's attention. What emerges is an unlikely alliance between local residents, government officials and military responders, all working under the mounting pressures of time. Still, tensions arise when local experts, accustomed to navigating these perilous systems, are sidelined by authorities, raising questions of whose knowledge has merit and why rural communities are forced to endure crumbling infrastructure. Blending firsthand accounts, drone footage and carefully staged reenactments, Hanging by a Wire builds a vivid account of survival and intervention.—Mara Tatevosian