What was your most thrilling first date? In 2016, two young Russians known for their extreme “rooftopping” adventures—where they climb towering landmarks like La Sagrada Familia and the Eiffel Tower—skipped the usual happy hour cocktail and instead ascended China’s tallest incomplete skyscraper, the 1,957-foot-high Goldin Finance 117.
At the time, Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau didn’t know they’d end up together. Beerkus had invited Nikolau, a rare female member of the rooftopping community (she was making waves in the male-dominated field), to join him for the climb to create sponsored social media posts. This marked the start of a long romantic and creative partnership, leading them to travel thousands of miles—and thousands of feet in the air—together.
Eight years later, the documentary film “Skywalkers: A Love Story” offers an intimate look at their unique romance through hundreds of hours of footage, featuring breathtaking POV shots from dizzying heights and occasional encounters with law enforcement.
Like all couples, Beerkus and Nikolau have their ups and downs, but their arguments come with higher stakes. In one scene, Beerkus daringly tells his girlfriend she’s “too negative” just as she’s about to perform a precarious acrobatic pose above the clouds. Through their unconventional lifestyle, “Skywalkers” delves into themes of trust and commitment, while their stunts will definitely make your palms sweat, if you enjoy that sort of thrill.
Directed by Jeff Zimbalist, who has his own rooftopping experience, and co-directed by Maria Bukhonina, “Skywalkers” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and is now available on Netflix. The documentary follows the couple as they take on increasingly difficult challenges, using Nikolau’s gymnastics background to perform acrobatic stunts on narrow ledges, poles, and scaffolding, all while navigating their budding relationship.
An ‘expanded state of mind’
For the couple, rooftopping is more than just thrill-seeking. Nikolau, the daughter of circus performers, explains in the film that pushing herself to her limits has been ingrained in her since childhood, and she constantly strives for self-improvement. For Beerkus, who spent years scaling buildings alone in Moscow, rooftopping provides a sense of mental clarity.
“The higher I went, the easier it was to breathe,” he recalls on camera, thinking back to his earliest climbs. “This extreme life, this expanded state of mind, it’s essential for me.”
Director Jeff Zimbalist acknowledges the dangers of rooftopping and emphasizes that his film is not about defending their actions against critics.