As families clean up and crews survey all the damage in Florida, a group of Valley filmmakers returned home after documenting the devastation for nearly a week.
It started when a man cutting down trees in Florida called another man here in the Valley.
"He called me up and said, 'hey man, a hurricane is coming and I really want to get some good coverage of this,'” said filmmaker Joseph James.
James is a filmmaker with years of experience working storm restoration. He met with three strangers from the Arizona film community, and they all took off for Florida.
"The only thing I said was, 'this is not for the faint of heart. This is not going to be a cushion job. Please don't come if you need four-star treatment,'" added James.
The four men arrived a week ago, Monday, and stayed for six days filming people providing relief.
"We've seen trees fall onto people's houses, flooding, they are out of electricity, water, gas, and different things over there,” said filmmaker Patrik Matheson.
The filmmakers snapped pictures and recorded video as they followed crews working to remove and cut trees blocking access to hurricane victims.
"I was just like, wow, I could not imagine going through something like this," said filmmaker Gaige Odom.
Filmmaker Ash De Guzman believes the images won't ever fade from his memory.
"Just seeing them help these people is very humbling in a sense," said De Guzman.
For Matheson, being on the ground during Hurricane Ian was life-changing.
"I just saw a Circle K that was just boarded up. Like, I had never seen a Circle K just boarded up before. Completely destroyed,” added Matheson.
"It looked like the Hulk threw a temper tantrum because cars and cars were just strewn everywhere,” added James.
So much bad in need of just a little good, the filmmakers say, moved them more than any of them expected.
"Just in that short time, it humbles you to realize how much you have in your own life,’ added De Guzman.
Documenting relief workers provided an appropriate snapshot, the filmmakers would say, to help challenge themselves creatively.
"This, I saw, was an opportunity for me to do something that is outside my element because I am a city boy,” added Odom.
