2#04 Renan Ozturk: the mountain filmmaker
“It’s impossible to answer the question of why you climb, and why you suffer, and why you put yourself in these crazy situations.”
Episode 2#04…
… is thrilled to sit down with Colorado-based Renan Ozturk to discuss his latest film “The Sanctity of Space”. A climbing film at heart, it not only celebrates the stunning landscapes of Denali National Park, the Alaska Range and the film-makers’ carving of a new skyline route across the “Moose’s Tooth” peak (3,150m)… <deep breath> but also pays heartfelt tribute to Brad Washburn, the legendary aerial photographer whose life’s work provided inspiration for the entire project.
And there’s time for more than that too. Renan - a sponsored expedition climber, landscape artist, and previous “National Geographic Adventurer of the Year” - has had a busy career so far. You may recognise him from his previous film projects “Meru” and “Sherpa” (both 2015), or perhaps from his back catalogue of arresting mountaineering photography. Possibly you’re one of his million-strong Instagram followers, or you met “dumpster diving” at Trader Joe’s in southern California, or he offered you a lift in the “technobago” whilst you were both enjoying your dirtbag climber phase. But don’t worry if not, this interview will provide the perfect introduction either way.
> Read more about Renan here: renanozturk.com, and find him on the ‘gram here: @renan_ozturk
> Find screenings and streaming links for “The Sanctity of Space” here: thesanctityofspace.com
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
[episode recorded on 10/03/22]
00:00 - Introduction
03:05 - Welcome
04:14 - “The Sanctity of Space” - Brad Washburn, the sharing of exploration, finding an antique plane, “feeling the magic” in Washburn’s camera
11:20 - “I think what he created still stands up against the highest resolution digital cameras”
11:59 - Gyro-stabilised gimbals
15:33 - The Moose’s Tooth: “… it’s going to be hard to top that experience of drawing a line with our bodies across that beautiful skyline.”
18:40 - “The factors are always stacked against you in the mountains”
19:11 - Top backcountry tip: “...just as long as you always save half your dinner, you’re never going to run out of food”
20:30 - The allure of Denali National Park: “there aren’t many places in the world that are as alive as the Alaska Range”
26:13 - The challenges of film-making: needing “the same optimism you have when you’re doing a climb”
26:58 - “It’s impossible to answer the question of why you climb, and why you suffer, and why you put yourself in these crazy situations… as artists we always want to package it in different ways where the art itself answers the question, these images give people heart-palpitations or goosebumps in a way that you can never do in a conversation at the bar.”
28:48 - Growing up in Rhode Island, discovering mountaineering at College, “I wasn’t one of these kids that grew up with Yvon Chouinard as an uncle”
32:30 - The “technobago”, a duffel bag, a backpack, an “endless summer” of climbing for seven or eight years
34:00 - Painting, not “struggling with technology”, dragging a 10ft long canvas around the landscape of Nepal
39:15 - “Dumpster diving” in Trader Joe’s in southern California, career thoughts
44:07 - Greatest mountain memory: the end of the Mooth’s Tooth traverse “moving for some 30-odd hours… hallucinating without drugs… the summertime in Alaska where it doesn’t really get dark”
46:00 - All the time, money, freedom… what do you do? “I’d still be doing what I’m doing now. It’s such a random storm of luck and opportunity that’s led me here”
BONUS GALLERY
Treat yourself to the following images taken from Brad Washburn’s incredible collection of Alaskan photography, and from the making of “The Sanctity of Space”.
(then head to www.thesanctityofspace.com to see the film for yourself)
This episode was proudly sponsored by (and first appeared on) ukhillwalking.com
Together with sister site ukclimbing.com, UKH’s stated aim is “to bring our readers both the best of hillwalking, climbing and mountaineering from around the world.”