By Megan Yarusso
“Let go of everything you can’t control” is both the personal philosophy of Eitan Armon (ΦBK, Columbia University) and the tagline of Looking Up, a new documentary currently introducing film festivals across the country to Armon’s story. At 20 years old, Armon was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a genetic condition that causes gradual vision loss. Looking Up documents how Armon, with only 5% of his central vision left, decided to climb El Capitan, a 3,000-foot-tall mountain in Yosemite National Park. In sharing Armon’s experience, the film seeks to raise awareness about RP and related conditions while also starting a dialogue about resilience and optimism in the face of unexpected limitations.
Looking Up is the directorial debut of Elena Neumann, who met Armon after he befriended Neumann’s daughter at school. Neumann says she and Armon had initially wanted to collaborate on a much smaller-scale project promoting a medical trial Armon was involved in. However, when the coronavirus pandemic made filming in a clinical environment infeasible, Armon and Neumann had to shelve the idea. It wasn’t until Neumann’s husband proposed that Armon join him for a trip to El Capitan that they decided to collaborate on a feature-length film. “I told him, ‘I think this is a lot bigger than a medical trial. I think that you could help more people than just people with RP,’” Neumann elaborated when asked about the inception of the film. “That’s how it turned from a small promotional video about a medical trial into a Yosemite climbing film.”
Taking on the towering El Capitan isn’t an easy feat for experienced mountain climbers, much less a novice like Armon, who had never attempted something at the scale of Yosemite’s granite monolith. “I definitely enjoyed getting to learn a new skill and challenge myself in a new way,” Armon said about the process of preparing for the climb. He went on to explain that he feels extremely fortunate to be able to focus on pursuits like rock climbing thanks to the medical treatment he’s been able to receive: “There’s a lot of gratitude. I think there’s a lot of gratitude for everyone involved in the process, especially my family.”
Further reflecting on his experience, Armon hopes that his story can serve as a valuable resource for others with physical disabilities, noting that it was challenging just to receive his initial RP diagnosis. He hopes the film will not only raise awareness about RP but also educate others experiencing vision loss about what sorts of treatments and therapies could be available to them. Additionally, Armon hopes his story can serve as a positive representation of what it’s like to live with a physical disability. “Part of it is raising awareness, and part of it is showing other folks with disabilities that I’m able to live an engaging, meaningful, challenging, and fun life, and so can they,” Armon explained. “More broadly, I think everyone has limitations, and it’s about demonstrating how we can exist within those limits.”
Looking Up first premiered at the Miami Jewish Film Festival in January 2025 and has since gone on to screen at the Annapolis Film Festival, the SOHO International Film Festival, the Lonely Seal International Film Festival, and more. For both Neumann and Armon, the reception of their film has been a rewarding experience, creating opportunities for connection, advocacy, and education. “I’ve been able to raise some money for research and for funding, and that’s been really meaningful and rewarding,” Armon reflected. “It’s been really great to connect with some folks who had similar experiences, or different experiences, and kind of share notes on some things that have been helpful from either a clinical perspective or just mindset and life.” Neumann further described how audiences of the film have been eager to learn more at post-screening Q&As: “They have so many questions, and there have been people with visual disorders in the audience, and even people with RP, and it’s really amazing to hear them talk about the impact the film has on them.”
From its inception, Looking Up has been a project that embraces learning in the face of unexpected circumstances. To Armon, the pursuit of learning is something that can happen at all stages of life, and he sees his ΦBK membership as an example of how he learned to navigate the world in the wake of his RP diagnosis. “I would imagine that some might find it surprising that the person with a walking stick on campus graduated ΦBK, right?” Armon said, reflecting that due to his vision loss, he learned to approach his studies differently than his peers: “Because I could accept my limitations, I was able to perform well academically.”
Accepting limitations—not in a spirit of defeat, but out of a sense of optimism—is ultimately the main idea Armon hopes audiences can take away from the film: “Focus on what you can control, and let go of what you can’t,” he reiterated. “In a lot of ways, life gets more meaningful and enriching and fulfilling.”
Megan Yarusso is a first-year graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign currently enrolled in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa at her undergraduate institution, Augustana College, in May of 2025. Augustana College is home to the Zeta of Illinois chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.