Good Luck, Kid | Sony Alpha Films
2026 · 22 min · Big Wall, Documentary · Sony Alpha
Renan Ozturk's short film Good Luck, Kid follows Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell on their so-called "Devil's Climb" adventure, observed through the camera and perspective of Taylor Shaffer, the youngest member of the team. The piece premiered at the Mountain Film festival in 2026 and runs about 22 minutes; it sits at the intersection of expedition footage and a filmmaking exercise, tracking moments of preparation, movement on the rock, and the logistics that come with shooting difficult climbing sequences. The film is worth watching for the way it emphasizes process over spectacle: it documents an intergenerational team at work and foregrounds the choices a cinematographer makes on a complex climb. Rather than presenting a technical route history or a graded send, it records the collaborative, creative side of an expedition and the practical constraints that shape how climbing is translated to film.
Review
A film about filming, and better for it. Renan Ozturk follows Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell on their Devil's Climb adventure, seen through the camera and the perspective of Taylor Shaffer, the youngest member of the team. It premiered at Mountainfilm in 2026 and runs twenty-two minutes.
This is for anyone curious about the choices a cinematographer makes on a hard climb: where to be, when to move, how to stay out of the way. It is also a good film about intergenerational teams, because Shaffer's view of two much older climbers is the actual subject. Skip it if you want the route. There is no technical history and no graded send here, and the film is honest that it is a filmmaking exercise as much as an expedition record.
What works is process over spectacle. Ozturk is the most distinctive cinematographer in the mountains and he hands the point of view to someone younger, which is a generous choice. What it gets wrong is that the climb itself stays offscreen. I finished it knowing how it was shot and not what was climbed.
The Ghosts Above is Ozturk behind his own camera on Everest, thirty-six minutes, and it shows what he does with the point of view when he keeps it. Watch that for the filmmaker. Watch this for how he teaches.
