Jose 'JJ' Balderas
Recent Springtown High School graduate Joey Rios is working on a documentary about the EF1 tornado that struck the community and is looking for residents willing to share their experiences.
“Anyone who feels like they want to tell their story,” Rios said. “I would like to interview people who were affected by the storm and people who were helping — a variety of people — so it has different sides of it all.”
Rios has written and directed numerous film projects throughout high school. He said he was in the middle of directing another short film when the tornado touched down the night of April 25.
“We were filming and then we got tornado alerts,” he said. “We were like, ‘Oh crap, it’s not good.’ It was scary.”
As the weather worsened, Rios said parents of the cast began calling their children as the tornado watch was upgraded to a warning. His mother told the group to remain at the house rather than drive during the storm.
After the tornado passed, Rios said he learned his friend Emma’s house had lost its roof.
“My friend Lincoln texted me and asked how I was doing,” he said. “I told him I was good and then he told me about Emma’s house — her roof is gone.”
Rios said the idea of creating a documentary crossed his mind immediately after the storm, but he was hesitant to move forward because he did not want the project to seem disrespectful or exploitative.
“I was really pondering on it since it happened,” he said. “But I didn’t want to fully act on it because I had doubt in my mind. I didn’t want people thinking I was trying to be disrespectful.”
Months after the storm, a conversation with his friend Emma eased his doubts.
“About a week ago, we were hanging out and catching up because she’s been busy with college,” Rios said. “She asked if I was making any more films and I said, ‘I want to do a documentary on the tornado, but I’m not sure.’ She said, ‘From my point of view, I think you should. If you want to interview me, I’ll do it. I’ll send you photos and videos.’ She was reassuring me,” he said.
The interview lasted about an hour.
“She didn’t expect to talk a lot,” Rios said. “Then she ended up talking more than she thought, which was really cool because she realized, ‘I actually have a story to tell.’”
After the interview, Rios’ mother posted on a Springtown community Facebook page to let residents know he was looking for more participants.
“She is my biggest supporter,” he said. “She told me, ‘You should just do it. It’s really important that you cover this.’ She made the post, and here we are.”
Since the post, Rios said he has three interviews scheduled in August. He said he is willing to visit an interviewee at their home or meet at a public location, depending on what makes the person most comfortable.
Rios said he intends to have the documentary not only focus on the damage, but also on the way Springtown responded.
“We do come together in a beautiful way,” he said. “We always help each other out. I really want to capture that in my documentary — how we always find a way to come together as one community.”
Rios hopes to complete filming for the project by the end of August and release the documentary by October.
“I’m hoping it will be 30 minutes to an hour long,” he said. “I’m welcoming any footage — photos, videos, anything that people want to share. I’ll give you all the credit.”
Those interested in submitting footage or being interviewed by Rios can contact him through Instagram at @JOEYINCINEMA or by messaging him on Facebook.
“I’m not going to force anyone to tell a story they don’t want to,” Rios said. “I’m not doing it for views or to get famous. I don’t care about that. I’m making this documentary because when people don’t know how to talk about things, and then they hear other people talk about what they went through, they might say, ‘OK, they talked about it. Maybe I can, too.’
“Someone’s smallest experience could be someone’s biggest experience, and that’s not even with a tornado. That’s in life.”
