NEKAI WALKS
Director: Rico King
Writer: Rico King
Director of Photography: Ricardo Diaz
Editor: Eugene Weis
Composer: Tyson Kuteyi
Producers: Rico King, David McIlvride
Executive Producers: Alexandra Roberts, David Paperny
THE STORY
In the summer of 2023, a Toronto teenager leaves home with his first paycheck, planning nothing more dangerous than a game of basketball.
As dawn turned to darkness, he is caught in a hail of gunfire on a North York street – an innocent victim of a retaliatory shooting he had no connection to. Shot through the head and left comatose, doctors give him almost no chance of survival.
Nekai Walks follows the extraordinary recovery of Nakai Foster, a young Black Canadian whose fight to live becomes a lens into the human cost of urban gun violence.
Told through intimate verité footage, hospital moments, family testimony, and community voices, the film chronicles his journey from a ventilator and brain surgery to the painstaking, humbling process of relearning how to sit, speak, and ultimately stand.
At its emotional core is the bond between Nakai and his mother – a caregiver navigating fear, faith, and exhaustion while refusing to accept the medical odds against her son. Around them unfolds a portrait of a family and community suspended between trauma and resilience, where laughter becomes a coping mechanism, and every small movement – a lifted hand, a first step – feels like a victory against death.
But Nekai’s story is only one thread. The film expands outward to reveal the broader ecosystem of violence in Toronto’s Jane and Finch corridor: educators who have buried dozens of students, former perpetrators serving life sentences, public-health advocates, and grassroots mentors building programs to interrupt the cycle of “get-back” retaliation. Their testimonies expose gun violence not as an isolated crime, but as a public-health crisis rooted in poverty, racism, trauma, and systemic neglect.
Director / Writer / Producer: Rico King
Rico King is a producer, writer, and director, and the founder of Black King Entertainment, an independent production company dedicated to socially impactful films and documentaries.
After earning an acting award early in his career but finding no traditional path forward, he built his own. With a Canon T3i, he wrote, produced, and starred in G Code: The Series, an independent film series shot in his own neighborhood. Distributed through trunk-of-the-car DVD sales, the series became a local phenomenon, selling over 100,000 copies establishing Rico as a grassroots filmmaker with a direct connection to his audience.
Angered by how the media portrayed the people of Baltimore, MD during the city’s 2015 unrest, Rico expanded into documentary filmmaking with Down in the Hole, a film exploring police brutality and life in Baltimore Winning the best documentary and diamond award at the Mount Vernon Film Festival. Rico’s next documentary Tears in the Bayou, a tear-jerking documentary on the impact gun violence has on Houston, TX became one of the most-viewed independent documentaries to emerge from state.
His broadcast-commissioned feature documentary, Nekai Walks, marks a new chapter in his career expanding from grassroots distribution to national broadcast while maintaining the intimacy and proximity that defines his storytelling. Long term, Rico’s vision is to build Black King Entertainment into a globally recognized production powerhouse.
Outside of filmmaking, his work extends into community leadership and humanitarian initiatives. He has been recognized multiple times, including being awarded “Rico King Day” by the City of Houston for years of extraordinary community service, hurricane relief and rescue efforts, and facilitating peace efforts in communities affected by gun violence.
Our Subjects
Nekai Foster
Nekai Foster is a young survivor of gun violence from Toronto’s Jane and Finch community whose story has become a powerful symbol of resilience and hope. At just 16 years old, Nekai survived a near-fatal shooting that left him in a coma after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds, including a critical injury to his head. Against overwhelming odds, he began a long and difficult recovery—relearning how to move, speak, and ultimately walk again. His journey from hospital bed to leading a citywide anti-violence march reflects not only physical strength, but an unwavering spirit and commitment to creating change in his community. Today, Nekai stands as a voice for youth impacted by violence, using his story to inspire healing, awareness, and unity. His journey is the heart of Nekai Walks, a documentary that captures both his personal recovery and the broader realities faced by communities affected by gun violence.
Taheeshia Foster
Taneeshia Foster is a devoted mother, caregiver, and quiet pillar of strength in Toronto’s Jane and Finch community. When her son Nekai was critically injured in a near-fatal shooting, doctors gave him little chance of survival. Refusing to accept those odds, Taneeshia became his fiercest advocate spending countless days and nights at his bedside, navigating fear, exhaustion, and uncertainty with unwavering faith. Her presence in Nekai Walks reveals the power of maternal love, spiritual endurance, and the strength required to fight for a child’s life when hope feels fragile. Taneeshia’s journey is not only one of caregiving, but of courage, a testament to the women who sustain communities through adversity and refuse to let violence define their families.
Devon Jones
Devon Jones is a veteran educator and community leader who has worked in Toronto’s Jane and Finch community for over 25 years. Having lost more than 30 former students to gun violence, he dedicated his life to ensuring their deaths were not in vain. In 2007, he founded YAAACE (Youth Association for Academics, Athletics and Character Education), an organization designed to bridge divides within the community and provide youth with access to academics, athletics, character education, employment support, and violence prevention programs. Today, YAAACE serves over 300 young people annually.
Annette Bailey
Annette Bailey has worked in both acute and community health nursing settings. Much of her work in community health nursing has focused on interagency collaboration to address key determinants of health for diverse populations in Toronto. Bailey completed her PhD in Public Health Science with a specialization in Health Promotion and Education. Her research examines traumatic stress and resilience among survivors of community and interpersonal violence. Her research interests span violence prevention, violence and trauma, trauma and resilience, homicide loss, resilience and grief. Her most recent research activity focused on traumatic stress and resilience among Black Women who have lost a child to gun violence in Toronto.
Imo Lewis
Imo Lewis speaks from a place of lived experience—one shaped by choices, consequences, and reflection. As a young man, he became caught in a moment of violence that changed the course of his life forever. Convicted of taking another person’s life, he has spent years in prison carrying the weight of that decision—fully aware of the harm it caused, not only to the victim, but to families, communities, and his own. From inside, Imo offers a perspective rarely heard with such honesty. He speaks about a cycle of retaliation that builds over time, where violence feeds violence and young people are often unprepared for the consequences of the environments they are navigating. What stands out is not justification, but accountability—an acknowledgment that one moment can cost a lifetime, and that the ripple effects extend far beyond that single act. Today, Imo reflects on the life he might have lived and the father he strives to still be from a distance. His voice in Nekai Walks is a powerful counterpoint—reminding us that behind every act of violence is a human story, and that understanding those stories is essential if we are to break the cycle.
Loreen Manners
Loreen Manners carries a grief that never leaves. As the mother of Jordan Manners—shot and killed inside his Toronto high school—her story is a powerful reminder of the lasting impact of youth violence. Years after his death, the loss remains immediate and unresolved, shaped not only by the absence of her son, but by the unanswered questions and lack of closure that continue to define her daily life. In Nekai Walks, Loreen’s voice brings the perspective of a parent whose child did not come home. She speaks with raw honesty about what it means to live with that reality—the silence, the memories, and the future that will never unfold. Her presence in the film anchors the stakes of the story, reminding us that behind every act of violence is a family forever changed. More than a story of loss, Loreen’s voice is a call to remember. She challenges us not to look away—to see the human cost of violence, and to understand that for families like hers, the impact does not fade with time. It is carried forward, every day.
