Friday August 7 2016 marked 42 years since Philippe Petit tiptoed across the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre, on a highwire suspended between the two buildings.
New Yorkers stopped in their tracks and gaped upwards, as word got out about the daredevil dancing in the sky, 110 storeys off the ground... without a harness.
The light-footed Frenchman's daring feat was the realisation of a dream, and took months of careful planning, a lot of cunning, and a sizeable dose of luck.
Petit and his band of accomplices recall their extraordinary stunt in the Oscar-winning documentary Man On Wire, which is available for you to watch at SBS On Demand right now. You'll be captivated as they describe how they managed to pull off 'the artistic crime of the century'.
Watch 'Man on Wire'
Sunday 26 July, 10:15pm on SBS (streaming after broadcast at SBS On Demand)
PG
UK, 2008
Genre: Documentary
Language: English, French
Director: James Marsh
What's it about?
A maverick, a dreamer, an artist: Philippe Petit is all of these things and more. On a slightly windy day in the summer of 1974, a lone figure appeared high above the heads of the people of Manhattan, balancing perfectly on a high wire strung between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. For almost an hour, Petit danced on the wire, ignoring the pleas from police to get down, simply rejoicing in his artistic expression. Winner of the 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
[link title="Man on Wire: Interview" url="node/1911"]
[link title="'Man On Wire' celebrates Philippe Petit's walk across the sky" url="node/43717"]
* SBS doesn't charge access fees for its SBS On Demand service. ISP and data charges may apply for individual users.
Source: SBS Movies
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