Christopher gets the director of photography credit on the film, the No. 2 billing after the filmmaker, Jonathan Hock. Not bad, considering his situation a decade ago, when he showed up at Hock's workshop for at-risk youths in New York City.

''He was 15, and he was not doing well in school, not doing well anywhere,'' Hock said. ''He picked up the camera, and it was as if he was born with one in his hand.''

The connection stuck, and Christopher, now 26, went on to become Hock's right-hand man on ''Through the Fire,'' which premiered at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. The film follows Telfair through his senior year of high school, beginning in fall 2003, focusing on both his team's quest for a city championship and his internal debate about whether to attend college or make himself available for the NBA draft. Some great basketball playing is on display in the film, so it is somewhat surprising to hear Hock describe his work.

''It's not a basketball movie,'' he said. ''It's a movie about a kid and a family, and he happens to be a basketball player.''

Hock found an unexpected poignancy in the subject when he realized, after already beginning the project, that Telfair's family had been disappointed once before with dreams of NBA stardom and riches. Telfair's older half-brother, Jamel Thomas, a standout at Providence College, had expected to be drafted into the NBA in 1999, but when draft day came, the family waited in vain.

So crushing was the experience that Telfair's mother didn't want to be a part of Hock's documentary. But the relationship between Thomas and Telfair - the older brother advising and encouraging the younger - became a heartening story line. ''What Jamel did for his younger brother, knowing that he was never going to get it himself, was really inspiring to watch,'' Hock said.

There to witness and film the whole emotional trip was Christopher, whose nickname is Geelock. ''It was a roller coaster,'' he said. And it was a ride he could have easily missed had he succumbed to the peer pressure that vexes so many teenagers.

''When I first met Jon,'' he said of Hock, ''I got a little ridicule from the guys in the 'hood - 'You're following this white dude around!' I couldn't even explain it to them. What I was learning from him - I saw that it was going to help me out in the future.''