Category Interviews

THE ONLY WAY IS UP Skywalkers: A Love Story delves into the thrilling realm of ‘rooftopping,’ showcasing the lives of Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, the reigning figures of this extreme activity. The film captures their adventures through careful preparation and bold guerrilla filmmaking.  Before you ask, no, Skywalkers: A Love Story is not another spin-off in the Star Wars saga. Instead, it’s a tale of two individuals whose extraordinary abilities and daring feats reach a level of agility, precision, and mental fortitude that would make a Jedi Knight nod in approval.  In comparison to another Netflix film, The Deepest Breath, known for its intense emotional depth and gripping narrative, this film charts a different course. While the former takes the audience on a rollercoaster ride of emotions culminating in a heart-wrenching finale, Skywalkers offers a contrasting narrative arc.  This documentary chronicles the story of two Russian daredevils, Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, who saved their romance by scaling one of the world’s tallest buildings. “I dabbled, though not to the extremes that Angela and Ivan did, but I was attracted to it for similar reasons,” he explains. “When I discovered that this activity had a name— rooftopping—and that people were climbing the tallest buildings in their cities worldwide, I began to track the rise of this phenomenon and search for a story I thought was worthy of a feature-length documentary.”  THE FUTURE It wasn’t until 15 years later that Nikolau burst onto the scene as the first female rooftopper, bringing her own style and vision without trying to compete with the boys. “She wanted to bring a feminine lens to rooftopping, which was really impressive, so I reached out to her,” he adds. “She told me she was raised in a circus and was a trained acrobat and gymnast, which I found even more intriguing,” Zimbalist […]