Discovery Channel Films received the Academy Award for best documentary feature for Man on Wire.
The film is the story of French performance artist Philippe Petit's 1974 high wire walk between the twin towers at New York's World Trade Center.
The Oscar for best doc caps a bountiful award season for Man on Wire, which also took top category honors at the Independent Spirit Awards, BAFTAs, The National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
After six years dreaming about the towers, Petit spent eight months in New York City planning his walk. Aided by a team of friends and accomplices, Petit had to bypass security; smuggle steel cable and rigging equipment into the towers; pass the wire between the two rooftops; and 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 a.m Petit took his first step on the high wire 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan. The film includes extensive interviews with Petit and the folks who helped him
Based on Petit's book To Reach the Clouds, Man on Wire is distributed by Magnolia Pictures and co-produced by Discovery Channel Films. The documentary was directed by James Marsh. Simon Chinn served as producer, and Jonathan Hewes as executive producer for Wall to Wall Productions.
