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.

"This piece is less a documentary and more a testimony of the power we humans have in making a difference if we only allow ourselves to step out of our comfort zone for the briefest of moments … that we might find something to not only identify with but to reach for in earnest desire to embrace as our own."

This is reflected in the film, as Scratching the Surface favors welcoming, enthusiastic portraits over pictures of tragedy and death. Bortz hopes viewers will feel inspired rather than coerced. "My goal is to show the world what Vickie and her teams—teams comprised of you and me, of ordinary people with ordinary lives—are able to do." He is critical of organizations "raking in feel-good money" and of those who give without researching where their money goes. "A lot of donations only salve the symptoms of disparity. H.E.A.R.T. is about attacking the problem, not just dressing the wounds. You can experience the impact you have."

H.E.A.R.T. founder Vickie Winkler at an orphanage in Kenya

Stirring the church to action
Jason Hatley, Executive Producer of the God on Film Festival, says, "Our team was moved by the powerful imagery of Scratching the Surface, and by the compassion of the church's response to the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Jason Bortz's film, and others like it, have the influence to stir churches and religious organizations around this country to action on behalf of those who have no voice for themselves. We were honored to share its message with the audience of the 2005 God on Film Festival."

Bortz thinks back to the H.E.A.R.T. fundraiser where he first learned about the organization's efforts. "My friend David [Glenwinkel, H.E.A.R.T. managing director] told us about bedding down one night in his sleeping bag only to awaken sometime later in the darkness with the feeling that he wasn't alone. Turning on his flashlight, he found scores of spiders descending from the thatched roof above and realized he had a choice. He could flee, screaming into the darkness of the nocturnal African jungle. Or he could do what he did: he zipped his bag over his head and went back to sleep."

The worrisome thought of dangerous spiders quickly faded when Bortz watched a relief organization video segment that documented in gory detail the sores and sickness plaguing Africa. Bortz felt like he was being "negatively manipulated," and he wanted to leave.

Then, in stark contrast, came very simple, personal video snippets of Africans recorded by H.E.A.R.T. members. Bortz remembers one in particular: "There was a little girl. Smiling, happy, infected with HIV—and I suddenly saw my daughter looking back at me. Like God whispered, Who do you see?"

Bortz sat, speechless, as a speaker informed the gathering that money, while vital, was not the Kenyans' most serious lack. "Simple education and implementation—something the indigenous people are not only ready but are hungry to embrace. We need people."

Curious children watching the filmmakers at work

"David," Bortz said to the H.E.A.R.T. official. "You need a better video."

"Yeah," Glenwinkel replied. "So when are you coming?"

Now that Scratching the Surface is raising awareness, Bortz hopes to expand the short into a lengthier endeavor. Proceeds from Scratching the Surface go toward developing this project. "We've scratched the surface ourselves," he says. "There's no way to capture it all in a half-hour piece. H.E.A.R.T.'s motto is Knowledge = Power = Survival. And both Africans and Americans have much more to learn."

In the meantime, Bortz keeps busy. He's in the Lion's Gate DVD release Fugitive Hunter, has the lead in a short feature entitled A Bullet Over Fives, premiering at the Sacramento Film Festival, and he took on that festival's "10 x 10 Challenge" to write, direct and star in a ten-minute film in ten days. He coaches acting at his wife Jennifer's studio, Lines—School of Performing Arts in Roseville, California. And he's the father of two amazing blessings, Caleb and Clarity.

And what about his fear of spiders? Did he have any nasty run-ins with creepy, crawly things? Yes, actually. But that's not going to stop him from going back.

For more on H.E.A.R.T., click here. For more on ÆSTUS, click here. To order a copy of Scratching the Surface, click here.

Images courtesy of Æstus Films and H.E.A.R.T.

© Jeffrey Overstreet 2005, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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