Hurricane Ian captured through a lens

A documentary to be unveiled at the Sunscreen Film Festival in St. Petersburg will offer viewers an inside look at one of the most powerful storms to hit the Gulf coast of Florida.

“Price of Paradise: Surviving Hurricane Ian” chronicles how close life and death were for many in Southwest Florida.

One survivor re-lived the storm rolling in and said, “We didn’t know what to do. Never seen anything like that, you don’t expect something like that.”

Cameras like the one mounted near the Lani Kai atop a cement pole paint a picture—the image it provided searing the fear and fury of this raging water in our minds.

“Seen a bunch of palm prawns washing down the street, and like, this is it! We’re in a hurricane now. That was just the beginning,” recalled the survivor.

One woman looked out the window with concern. “I’m really worried about my neighbor. He’s over there by himself,” she said.

Writer and producer Jonathan Petramala’s said one of his goals with the documentary was to capture the human experience, “There’s that wide range of motions from wanting to cry with them to wanting to laugh with them to wanting to celebrate with them. But the fact that we were able to have the video showing this house being washed away, and then realize there were two people inside of that with two dogs, how did they survive, and then have their story tie into the house where they ended up floating to, and how those folks who house that they actually ended up surviving and how they helped save another person’s life because they decided to stay and they were in a different, you know, it’s very convoluted, but it’s somehow tied together in our story that is just amazing.”

Petramala also hoped – the storyline, the images, the aftermath – bring people a greater understanding, appreciation, and respect for hurricanes and the water. “People understand wind is dangerous in hurricanes, and they see the wind and the roofs blowing off and the trees blowing. But the real danger of hurricanes is water. The vast majority of deaths come because of water,” he added.

And, as many learned – even in paradise, there is a high price to pay for staying behind.

Survivors reflected, “There’s no power like the power of the ocean or mother nature.”
“Ian was the push I needed to leave.”
“Gotta love SWFL, but – there’s a risk.”

The documentary debuts at the end of April at the Sunscreen Film Festival in St. Petersburg.
For a schedule of events and ticket information, click here.