By John Corrado
The 2026 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 23rd to May 3rd in Toronto
The documentary Nekai Walks opens with a beat-by-beat account of the night that Nekai Foster got shot in the head in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood. It was summer, and he was walking home from playing basketball, when gang violence broke out and he got hit by several stray bullets. The 16-year-old survived, but suffered traumatic brain injury. This sent him into a process of recovery, learning to walk again, and becoming an advocate speaking out against gun violence.
Director Rico King uses Foster’s story to explore the broader issue of gun violence in Toronto, which mostly involves retaliatory shootings between rival gang members who are trapped in cycles of violence. By interviewing others in the community, King’s film also addresses how to tackle the systemic issues that lead young men to get involved in gangs. This includes the work being done by Devon Jones, an educator who started a youth program to give kids from Jane and Finch a sense of purpose and community.
It’s a timely and emotional documentary, especially for Toronto audiences who have heard about these shootings firsthand. King balances what is obviously upsetting material with an inspiring recovery story, intimately following King’s rehab journey at Sunnybrook with the healthcare professionals cheering him on, and his mother and sister providing strong family support.
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