These daredevil roof-toppers have become social media sensations for their death-defying exploits, which include scaling many of Hong Kong’s iconic structures, from Central Plaza to the Tsing Ma bridge.
They are now the subject of a heart-stopping Netflix documentary, Skywalkers: A Love Story, which chronicles their extraordinary efforts to conquer Merdeka 118, as well as their blossoming romance at the top of the world.
Director Jeff Zimbalist cites Oscar-winning documentaries Man on Wire and Free Solo as major influences on his film.
“It’s like a sporting event more than a movie,” he tells the Post. “But as much as we love that the spectacle is working and the vertigo is working, at its core, what’s most meaningful is the love story.”
Zimbalist, a five-time Emmy winner, admits that during his teenage years, he was an amateur roof-topper himself, and subsequently spent years searching for the right story to explore this dangerous, thrill-seeking subculture on film.
It wasn’t until 2016 when 23-year-old Angela Nikolau burst onto the scene, promising something that went deeper than simply shock value stunts. The male-dominated pursuit was particularly popular in Russia, and it now had its first legitimate female roof-topper.
Nikolau wasn’t interested in competing with her male peers or earning their acceptance, however. She began incorporating costumes and choreography into a medium that had until now been dictated simply by who was willing to climb the highest – with a terrifying number paying the ultimate price.
“Angela was doing something totally different, she was generating art,” says Zimbalist. “Her influences were Basquiat and Warhol. I reached out to her, and she told me how her parents raised her in a travelling circus, which immediately intrigued me. Then she introduced me to Ivan, who at the time was the biggest roof-topper in Russia.”
It seemed that Zimbalist had found his story.
“Angela and Ivan talked about having a rivalry, but you could sense that underneath it, at the very least there was a bubbling flirtation, if not an entire courtship that they weren’t willing to go public with yet. And that is where the seed got planted of telling a love story on top of the world. Maybe we could use extreme climbing as a metaphor for romantic trust.”
Beyond the obvious challenges of filming a duo intent on repeatedly trespassing to put themselves in perpetual danger, the production faced a number of other obstacles, from the coronavirus pandemic to the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine.
Russian-American Maria Bukhonina was brought on as co-director and producer, to ensure that despite the travel restrictions, the crew could keep following Angela and Ivan, and their enthralling odyssey could be documented.
“They were very focused on the final product, the polished pose,” Zimbalist says about the collaboration between his crew and the two young artists. As their popularity increased online, they landed sponsorship deals to pay for their travels, turning their eye-catching accomplishments into NFTs.
“I told them, everything you leave on the cutting room floor, that is the stuff we need. We cannot relate to what you do as this nomadic circus of trespassers … but if you show us that you’re stumbling upon the same kinds of issues that all of us have had in our own romantic relationships, or better yet, that this stuff scares you, you’ll be able to reach more people.
“We joked that they taught us how to rooftop and we taught them how to do long-form storytelling – they had never seen a documentary feature film before! – and they got really good at it.”
Once the couple had been convinced to open up in front of the camera, Skywalkers took on a whole different dimension. The film was no longer simply an exhilarating documentary about a pair of reckless youngsters eager to express themselves, but – as Zimbalist had hoped – a love story.
As anyone who has travelled with their significant other will know, high-stress situations in unfamiliar locations can often lead to disagreements and heated altercations. All very well at an unfamiliar railway station, but something altogether more terrifying when perched 600 metres above the ground.
For Nikolau and Beerkus, this tension is an integral part of their dynamic, claims their director. “They don’t know how shaky, slippery, windy these climbs are going to be. They’re negotiating their fear every step of the way and oftentimes that takes the form of high-stakes, high-tension interaction.
“To them that is nothing new, it’s part of what they do when figuring this out, and in some ways the loudest voice wins, in other ways logic wins.”
For viewers, this means being held captive during a petty squabble with your heart in your throat, as the couple berate one another from an ice-covered radio mast, quivering violently in the clouds.
From its opening moments, Skywalkers: A Love Story hijacks its audience and catapults them on a nerve-shredding roller-coaster ride that will have vertigo sufferers clutching their sofa cushions in abject terror.
But in the end, the film’s greatest triumph is that you will find yourselves rooting for Nikolau and Beerkus. Not to see them successfully defy gravity once more or evade capture by the circling authorities – but for them to succeed as a couple, against insurmountable odds.
“Angela uses this metaphor of trapeze artists,” recalls Zimbalist. “How the flier leads you further into the sky towards your dreams, while the catcher is for safety and brings you down to earth. That dynamic is always at play with them.
“That dynamic was also in play between us and them. We were always the catcher, they were always the flier. I said to them constantly, “We’re not making a film about the fear of falling from heights, we’re making a film about the fear of falling in love”.
Ultimately, the legality of their endeavours becomes a moot point, eclipsed by the pair’s audacious expression of courage, commitment and trust in one another.
Skywalkers: A Love Story will start streaming on Netflix on July 19.