UK Doc MAN ON WIRE Continues Awards Spree

by Sandy Mandelberger, North American Editor

The British documentary MAN ON WIRE by James Marsh, the story of French aerialist Phillipe Petit’s legendary tightrope walk between the doomed Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, has become the documentary to beat in all the major award races. The film, which has been in steady release in the United States for the past six months via Magnolia Pictures and has grossed nearly $3 million in the U.S. alone, was named this week as Best Documentary Film by the New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. film critics associations. The film also recently won nods at the International Documentary Association Awards , a Golden Globe nomination and is short listed for an Oscar nod. The film was also cited by the National Board of Review, a national critics association in the U.S., as well as winning a British Independent Film Award last month.