“The first thing you go through, besides being scared and not knowing what to do — the first thing is to find a place to sleep, where the cops aren't going to bother you. All of a sudden, you find yourself out on that street ... After the third day, you become indoctrinated to being homeless.” — Chip, homeless in Nevada County

Chip is an instantly recognizable figure to anyone who frequents Grass Valley. But how many of those who walk by the frequently disheveled older man take the time to stop and talk to him?

For 17-year-old documentary filmmaker Jorey Kiva, interviewing Chip and Tammy, two of Nevada County's homeless, was a revelation.

“A lot of the homeless say the worst part is that you become invisible,” Kiva said.

“The first step is to acknowledge the problem,” said John Fletcher, who helped Kiva produce his recently completed documentary, “Homeless in the Sierra Foothills.” “They're not going to go away.”

This was Kiva's first full-length effort; he had previously filmed some small projects, including a promotional video for Sammie's Friends.

Documenting the reality of homelessness in Nevada County was suggested by Fletcher, who had been a longtime volunteer at Hospitality House and with feeding the homeless at Divine Spark.

Homelessness is a “really difficult issue that people don't want to have to deal with,” Fletcher said. “I thought Hospitality House would be a good place to start, a couple of the guests were willing to talk to us.”

“It's not a subject a lot of people think about in Nevada County,” Kiva said. “It's a subject I didn't know a lot about. But I learned a lot, and I hope others will too.”

The pair started filming in August of last year, with Kiva behind the camera and Fletcher narrating. The timing of the documentary seems prescient in light of the spotlight placed on the plight of the local homeless by the exposure deaths of Mark Rye in January and William Kelly in late February.

Fletcher has long been involved with helping the homeless in Nevada County, having been brought on board Hospitality House seven years ago by Utah Phillips; he recently parted ways with the nomadic shelter, however. He started helping Tomas Streicher at Divine Spark about 1 1/2 years ago, he said.

“My wife lived in a refugee camp, so she has an idea of what it's like to be homeless,” he said. “In some ways, I follow her lead.”

Kiva, on the other hand, admits that before he started the documentary project, he had little to no personal contact with any homeless people.

“Honestly, this was really the first time,” he said, adding that he had met Rye on several occasions after the transient had been befriended by Kiva's parents, who own the Eco Community Thrift store in Grass Valley.

“It didn't take that long to finish filming, but I reached a roadblock in the editing,” Kiva said. “I took some time off, then I started over from scratch. It didn't flow well, and it was too long. I tweaked it a lot.”

Kiva said he was “pretty happy” with the end result.

“I was blown away by it,” Fletcher said.

“I haven't shown it to very many people yet,” Kiva said. “Most come away with a new perspective on the homeless; now, they see them more as people. I really hope we can show it to a bigger audience.”

The next subject for the documentary duo is up in the air — possibly a day in the life at KVMR, or Chance for Bliss, a Penryn-based sanctuary for end-of-life and special-needs animals.

For information, call Kiva at 274-8405 or e-mail him at jorey.k@gmail.com. Fletcher can be reached at 273-6490 or by e-mail at moonshinebooks@spiralemail.com.

To contact Staff Writer Liz Kellar, e-mail lkellar@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4229.