MAN ON WIRE
Opening August 8
 Audience Award Winner (World Cinema - Documentary), 2008 Sundance Film Festival
Grand Jury Prize Winner (World Cinema - Documentary), 2008 Sundance Film Festival
"Erupts onscreen as one of the most wildly entertaining docs of recent years. An adventure tale that astonishes in every respect." - Robert Koehler, Variety
"Riveting. This exhilarating film makes you shake your head in amazement." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
On August 7, 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released.
Following six and a half years of dreaming of the towers, Petit spent eight months in New York City planning the execution of the coup. Aided by a team of friends and accomplices, Petit was faced with numerous extraordinary challenges: he had to find a way to bypass the World Trade Center's security; smuggle the heavy steel cable and rigging equipment into the towers; pass the wire between the two rooftops; anchor the wire and tension it to withstand the winds and the swaying of the buildings. The rigging was done by night in complete secrecy. At 7:15 AM, Philippe took his first step on the high wire 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan...
James Marsh's documentary brings Petit's extraordinary adventure to life through the testimony of Philippe himself, and some of the co-conspirators who helped him create the unique and magnificent spectacle that became known as "the artistic crime of the century."
DIR James Marsh; SCR James Marsh, based on the book To Reach the Clouds by Philippe Petit; PROD Simon Chinn. US/UK, 2008, color, 90 min. In English and French with English subtitles. RATED PG-13
Official site: manonwire.com
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