Scratching the Surface
California filmmaker's documentary about AIDS ministry in Africa plays at several film festivals, getting the word out about "the power we humans have in making a difference."
by Jeffrey Overstreet | posted 10/24/2005
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Sacramento-based filmmaker and actor Jason Bortz once prayed that God would not send him to Africa. He had other aspirations, including his dream of becoming a film star. What kept Africa off-limits? Bortz rolls his eyes and offers his best Indiana Jones: "Spiders. Why'd it have to be spiders?"
But God had other ideas. And Bortz ended up going to Africa anyway—spiders or not. A trip to Kenya last year broke down his resistance and opened his heart to a suffering people. Now, with a documentary he made during his journey, he is speaking to viewers' minds and hearts back home.
Jason Bortz (left) with filmmaking colleague Brian Hamm
This informative, short documentary, Scratching the Surface: A Journey with H.E.A.R.T., is screening at several festivals this year, including New York's God on Film Festival, Utah's Gloria Film Festival, the Sacramento Film and Music Festival and the ARPA Film Festival in Los Angeles. At Sacramento, Scratching the Surface won the Jury Award for Best Documentary Short.
Bortz, who heads a small production company called ÆSTUS, traveled to Kenya in June 2004 with Brian Hamm, director of photography, and sound man John Drew. Troubled by the harsh realities of AIDS in Africa, which has claimed over twenty million lives (three million in 2004 alone), and by the lack of awareness and understanding in the rest of the world, Bortz offered to bring what he could to the cause—his camera, and a record of what he saw there.
Africa not to be pitied
"Africa suddenly became real rather than notional," he recalls. "Africa isn't a nation to be pitied. There's an impassioned, serving and incredibly intelligent people here that no one has taken the time to educate on even basic hygienic principles we take for granted. Despot governments were too busy lining their own pockets to actually cultivate a powerful nation. It's only now, through reform in various areas, that the windows are opening on this long-dark house, and the intense need there is visible for the rest of us to finally comprehend."
Bortz's crew accompanied H.E.A.R.T. (Health Education Africa Resource Team), founded in 2000 by Vickie Winkler, a nurse who had felt "a cry out of Africa" after visiting Kenya with her husband. The ministry addresses the HIV/AIDS epidemic in East Africa through health education and medical treatment.
Bortz's film captures African children without exploiting their misery
H.E.A.R.T. missions teams shoulder a multitude of projects including water-providence projects, seminars against female circumcision, connecting nationals with Operation Smile for free reconstructive surgeries, and instructing all who will listen about topics ranging from good hygiene to hepatitis and HIV—and now a groundbreaking "Model Village Program" that will empower villages to train one another.
On the ÆSTUS website, Bortz writes, "One does not 'direct' a piece like this. One merely reacts, praying that what need come before the lens be graciously provided. It is my prayer that all who view our offering become just a bit more aware of the reality not only of the severity of this epidemic, but of the amazing people who bear up under it with a strength and indomitability of spirit.
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