Join the Boston Sunday Night Film Club this Sunday, Aug 24th at 7:35pm for Man on Wire at the Kendall Square Cinema . Look for Sean wearing a nametag in the theatre lobby about 15 minutes before the film. As always, after the film we will descend on a local establishment for dinner/drinks/discussion.
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. Petit spent eight months in New York planning the execution of the coup. Aided by a team of friends and accomplices, 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.” Music by Michael Nyman.