记录枪支暴力的真实代价：纪录片《尼凯前行》背后的创伤、记忆与系统困境

Jan Jagenolin: Hey everyone, I'm Jan Jagenolin. At TVO, we are really lucky to be home to some incredible documentaries. And today, in a special bonus episode of The Rundown, I want to introduce you to one of those films and take you behind the scenes of how it was made. It's a new TVO original documentary called Nikai Walks. And it follows the story of Nikai Foster, a teenager who was shot at random while walking home in Toronto's Jane and Finch neighborhood. The movie chronicles his recovery and the impact of gun violence. Rico, great to have you back. How are you doing?

Rico: Doing great.

Jan Jagenolin: All right. Uh, before we begin our conversation, I just want to let people know that this conversation is for people who have seen the doc. So, if you haven't, hit pause on this video, go watch the film, and then come back and watch this. All right, Rico, walk me through the process. How did you go from the idea, learning about Nikai's story, meeting him at essentially Sunnybrook, to actually making this documentary?

Rico: Well, my idea—like I've been filming the impact gun violence has on our community from Baltimore to Houston, and I thought it would be great to have Toronto on the list. So, the first thing I did, you know, I didn't expect to ever have a broadcaster on board, so I just shot it myself. I self-funded a feature doc, and the kind folks at TVO watched it and they asked me for a character-driven doc. I went to the community and was searching for the story, but the story found me.

We never really intended to have Nikai. I don't think the original treatment really had Nikai Foster in there. But in just doing my community work and being a big brother to young boys who need a big brother, we went to the hospital and, again as we spoke earlier, just to be there for him and make sure his mind is in the right place. And I developed a friendship, and one day he asked me to shoot it in 4K.

I relayed the message back to TVO, like, I think this is going to be a great story because the guy is great. I was in the hospital with a kid who couldn't move, but he was smiling, trying to shake my hand, very respectful. And I wanted people to see: Jane and Finch, yes, it has troubles, but it has kids like him—respectful, loving, and kids that love life. And I felt like it's a great representation for that.

Jan Jagenolin: As you talk about—you know, you were there through some very difficult times, and I am curious: when do you know when to turn the camera on, and when to turn off the camera?

Rico: In the editing lab. Yeah. You don't turn off the camera, ever.

I knew to be respectful of everybody at the hospital. Like, not everybody wants to be on camera, and these are people's worst days at the hospitals, at these ICUs and ERs. So, you have to be sensitive to that. But Nikai wanted his story to be seen. And the only way we can make a change is if you know how serious it is, how big of a problem it is. And I don't think a 15-second or 1-minute news clip does justice to these stories. These are human beings and people.

Jan Jagenolin: There's—I'm imagining hours, because you spent several months filming with him and his family. Were there things that you had to take out that you were like, "I really wish that was in there"?

Rico: Oh man, tons of it. Oh my god. Because we filmed every day down there for a whole year. Conversations with Nikai and his sister that are really funny to me. We went to the beach together—there's a scene at the beach.

Jan Jagenolin: There is. Yes.

Rico: Yeah. But there's like behind the scene where we're just having a lot of fun. I felt like it should have made the documentary, but we got to like squeeze everything in...

Jan Jagenolin: ...in 86 minutes, 90 minutes. Yeah. Uh, one thing people will know: yes, it's called Nikai Walks, but it's not just about Nikai. There are several victims as well as perpetrators of violence featured in the doc, which is an interesting one. Speak to Imo Lewis. You see him in the beginning at some point and then five years later serving life in prison for murder. First, access on that: this is in Saskatchewan from what I understand. How did that connection come about?

Rico: Well, you know, they transfer them a lot. I met him in Kingston for the first interview.

Jan Jagenolin: Okay.

Rico: He's been in there for a really long time serving his time. As you see in the documentary, he's not hiding or shying away from the fact that he did wrong, but he wants to make a difference. And I feel like sometimes it's the energy—like I don't know how to properly answer these questions sometimes cuz it's just the energy. Like he sees me, I see him, and we know our intentions are good and we want to make a difference and we want to make sure the world becomes a better place.

Jan Jagenolin: Is there ever in spending so much time with Nikai, seeing someone whose life changed because of gun violence, and then sitting across from someone who has essentially done the same to another family—how do you find that balance? Is there anger in there? Were you trying to seek justice even though the justice system had already done what it needed to do? How are you having these difficult conversations looking at someone across the aisle there?

Rico: Well, believe it or not, like Nikai said in the end of the documentary, like people are victims before they're suspects. Growing up in these communities, you're victimized so many times, right? And I'm not saying that's an excuse, but that's how I look at it. You know, I look at him as the child self. That's why I put his picture of him as a child. He's an innocent child. He wanted to be a fireman. You know what I mean? And it's society that corrupts these young minds sometimes. And it's hard, very hard to raise yourself out of these circumstances sometimes. And it's a quick decision that's the wrong thing and affects you for the rest of your life. And you can't judge somebody for the five-minute decision they made. It's horrible that people have to grow up without their loved ones. But if we cut this problem from the root, we won't ever have to deal with it.

Jan Jagenolin: You also filmed funerals, vigils for other victims of gun violence. We see the mother of Jordan Manners. That's a name a lot of people will remember. He was a young boy who was murdered in his school back in 2007. And this is her just going about her day, taking transit, going to see his grave. How did you persuade them to let you in on their lives?

Rico: Again, like we're all tired of the gun violence. So I didn't have to persuade them. They wanted to show, hey, like Emmett Till in 1955, his mama wanted to show an open casket to see what they did to her kid, and that's a big moment for the civil rights movement, right? So a lot of the families like want to show what happened to their loved ones, and hey, you know, it's a cry for help almost. You know what I mean? And for me personally, I also want to make sure we memorialize a lot of our community people who died before their time. They could have had an amazing life, but it was cut short, you know, and I want to make sure that they're remembered, cuz I've lost a lot of people myself, and I hate the fact that they're gone, but what can I do about it? But make sure the world knows that, hey, they were here, you know.

Jan Jagenolin: Was there anyone that you wanted to speak to, but they weren't ready or willing to talk? They saw the reason and the purpose and they thought it was important, but as you mentioned, you're meeting people in the worst days of their lives, but just weren't ready.

Rico: Yeah. I had a kid that was shot 11 times and survived. He didn't know how to feel about his situation, and I did interview him. I did follow him for three or four days, but I felt like he wasn't ready either. And we're not going to force anybody to be part of a project. You know, these are real life situations. Nikai at the birthday scene, there's a kid in—one of his friends from that scene was murdered, you know what I mean? Like not too long after, you know? So this is happening continuously in his real life, and I have to be sensitive to that. And YAS took the kid in, and he works there now, and hopefully he'll find his way. But not every story has to be told. We try to get as many as possible, but you have to be ready too, and we have to make sure it's safe to say the story, and sometimes it's not.

Jan Jagenolin: After doing a film as heavy as this one, what's next? What do you do next?

Rico: Another heavy film.

Jan Jagenolin: Can you give us a little sneak peek here?

Rico: Sneak peek, yeah. So we're in development right now for a documentary to cover Imo's story. I feel like I didn't cover his story enough, cuz he went through so much, and I want us to see how to be able to fix these systems, man. You go through one institution to another institution to another institution from your childhood, right? From foster care or whatever. And so many kids are being ignored so many times. It's like a can of Coke, and you shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it—what else is it going to do? It's going to explode in the worst way possible. So we're covering his story. Hopefully, I think it's going to be a great story, a great documentary, and we're ready for it. And he's already been moved to Manitoba, so they're always moving him around and stuff like that, right? So I think it's going to be great, and with TVO.

Jan Jagenolin: So we'll look forward to it. Rico, I appreciate it. Thank you so much for the work you do. An official Torontonian now! You were part of the community here at TVO as well, so appreciate it so much.

Rico: Thank you so much for having me.

Jan Jagenolin: All right.