First of all, let’s get one thing straight: Skywalkers: A Love Story is not a Disney+ series about the ancestors of Luke Skywalker. It’s an acclaimed documentary from director Jeff Zimbalist that explores skywalkers, daredevils who perform at great heights at tremendous risk, without a single lightsaber in sight.
As seen in the trailer for Skywalkers: A Love Story, the film follows daredevil couple Angela Nikolau and Ivan “Vanya” Beerkus as they take their relationship to dangerous new heights to perform atop one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers.
Zimbalist is a filmmaker known for his previous docs, The Two Escobars and Pelé: Birth of a Legend. He co-directed the film with Maria Bukhonina of Why We Fight and the Netflix docu-series Heist.
SYNOPSIS: A daredevil couple risks it all by going where no one has gone before: the top of the world’s second-highest skyscraper. Angela and Vanya are Russia’s preeminent rooftoppers who defy the odds (and death) to scale the globe’s tallest buildings. As their acrobatic stunts go viral and rack up millions of online views, they put their love and trust to the test as they create a highly dangerous new art form that they call “skywalking.” Filmed over six years across six countries, Skywalkers: A Love Story captures extreme climbing in harrowing detail and is directed and written by Emmy-winning filmmaker Jeff Zimbalist (Favela Rising, The Two Escobars, Momentum Generation).
Netflix will premiere Skywalkers: A Love Story on July 19th, but before that it’ll play in select IMAX theaters beginning on July 12th. It currently has an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and based on the word of people I know, it’s worth seeking out.
