On September 27, 1994, filmmakers Tod S. Lending and Danny Alpert interviewed Dorothy Jackson at her apartment in the Henry Horner Homes. The pair hoped to use the interview for “No Time to Be a Child,” a three-part PBS series about the effects of a violent environment on children. Two hours after they finished the interview, Jackson’s 14-year-old grandson Terrell Collins was shot to death by a classmate as he walked home from school.
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As Lending spent time with the family, he decided there was a larger story worth exploring. “I was interested not only in the long-term effect of losing Terrell,” he says. “There were other issues embodied in the family: single mothers raising kids, generations of being on welfare, what life was like in public housing.”
Even though Lending developed a rapport with the family during the making of the series, he met with some resistance when he wanted to delve further into their lives. “Nikki was actually very distant with me during the whole process,” he says. “Dorothy was open to the idea of me continuing to follow them, but she was a little leery. She wasn’t the most comfortable person in front of the camera. Wanda was totally absent. It was Alaissa, Nikki’s mother, that I bonded with.” The emotional and professional dynamics of the situation were different from anything he had previously encountered. “This was a totally open-ended, evolving relationship I had with the family.”
Lending, 40, who lives in Ravenswood with his wife, Afsaneh Rahimian, and their four-year-old daughter, is currently working on a documentary about the inequalities of the death penalty. “With my work, I try as hard as possible not to force myself on the material,” he says. “I believe what is said, what is captured, has its own integrity. I don’t feel I have all the answers.”
