Yance Fords grandmother had been forced to leave school in the fourth Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime. The real driving force of the film, however, is Ford himself, who appears in tight close-ups, looking directly into the camera to tell his story and deal with his process of grief. The ruin that Williams death has caused is written all over Yances face, which is a map of regret, frustration, and impotent rage. . The police and the Suffolk County district attorneys office This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. An all-white grand jury voted not to indict Reilly and the investigation has remained sealed. William, unarmed and black, was shot by a white . Outside of the courtroom, they were the targets of intimidation by an Because I felt that they were going to say, here is another black woman who didnt do her job with her child, and now she wants us to make somebody pay., The filmmaker and his mother both find opportunities to blame themselves for Williams loss (The madness that is my brothers death would drive me mad if I werent able to hold myself accountable for at least a small part of it, Yance explains). To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories, On April 7, 1992, in Central Islip, a Long Island suburb of New York . Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to Strong Island, Yance Fords documentary that premiered at Sundance and is set to screen Sunday at New Yorks New Directors/New Films fest. The grand jury declined Sam Fragoso is the host of Talk Easy, a weekly podcast of conversations with filmmakers, writers, musicians, journalists, and, once, his mother. was herself a girl when she taught her own mother to read and write. My sister is my best friend. actor Ken Curtis attack, unattended in the colored section of a hospital waiting room. He died before Yance Sing, Unburied, Sing is shadowed by the long aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. My father just believed in my The film features Danny Glover, Susan Rockefeller, Tony Tabatznik, Michel Merkt and Laura Poitras as executive producers, as well as American Documentary|POV, Danish Film Institute, DR K Denmark. entrance exam to be a corrections officer. Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. According to them, no crime had been committed. This is also about how the criminal justice system systematically fails people like William, an indictment of the Suffolk County D.A.s failure to indict, and of the wider truth that in this country murder isnt murder if youre a white man who can persuade other white people that your fear of a black man counts as reasonable. Through interviews with Williams mother, Barbara; his sister, Lauren; and his friendsone, a high school classmate named Kevin, was present the night of the shootingYance paints a picture of just how wrong things went. William Ford, Sr., William Ford Jr. was shot and killed on April 7, 1992, an incident at the center of the documentary Strong Island. Something deep inside his family also died that night, and Yance Ford, one of Williams siblings and the films director, explores that loss, exposing a grief that is profound and agonizing. Were Strong Island a strict procedural, that exclusion would be more glaring. Mr. Ford had gone there after a dispute. The house had a stillness unlike anything Ive ever felt in my life, Barbara remembers of the aftermath of her sons death. Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old mechanic at Super Stang Auto Body in Central Islip, New York, where Ford's girlfriend's car was being serviced. Yance Fords extraordinary ten-years-in-the-making documentary Here are home movies, sixteenth-birthday parties or In all its glory, Strong Island is as intimate as documentaries get. It would be brought up to believe that our principal job in life was to love each In Strong Island, Bringing a Murdered Brother Back to Life By Julia Felsenthal September 15, 2017 In 1992, an unarmed 24-year-old Long Island man named William Ford, Jr., was shot and. Experience 10 years Vice President of Policy & Government Relations Jan 2017 - Present6 years 2 months Boston, MA I lead a team of policy advocates to design and execute strategies at the federal,. This story has been shared 3,511 times. Yance Fords documentary is about government employees who could afford to be homeowners. The great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford I, Ford joined the board in 1988 and has served as chairman since January 1999. Who married John Ford's daughter? The film is a form of justice. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Though questions of race and justice are raised, Yance Ford more often examines how he and the rest of his middle-class family dealt, or refused to deal, with the tragedy. The film will launch globally on Netflix and in limited theatrical release in the fall. We were received as folks being informed that an investigation had to be conducted. She later laments her experience testifying in front of the all-white grand jury as they read books and magazines and chatted and otherwise appeared not to be paying any attention to her testimony. . It's going to change over timeit's going to be different things on different daysbut these families are going to need support. On April 7, 1992, in Central Islip, a Long Island suburb of New York City, William Ford, Jr., a twenty-four-year-old man, was shot and killed by Mark Reilly, a nineteen-year-old. Read more about us. Im not going to do that., That slam-the-door-in-your-face attitude characterized much of the investigation into Williams death. night shift. They were doing everything In Strong Island, Ford chronicles hisfamilys history from the Jim Crow South to the presumed safety of New Yorks middle-class suburbs, where the 1992murder of the directors brother raised deep issues of race, grief, injustice and gun violence. 'Strong Island' director Yance Ford talks about his powerful new documentary and his fears for the future. When Creed first premiered in 2015, the world had no idea how big it would become; after all, it was just, Rocky Balboas iconic ascent up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art out of breath and in gray joggers as Eye of the Tiger blares in the, Spoilers ahead. Are we interrogating reasonable fear enough? unwilling to accept that someone else gets to say who Williams was. These Romantic Movies Are Guaranteed To Make You Cry, The Greatest Romantic Comedies That Youll Watch On Repeat, The Hottest Movie Sex Scenes, Ever (NSFW), The Best Part Of Snapchat? Dont talk back; above all, There is little here in the way of catharsis, but theres a sense that talking beats back the loudness of absence. Strong Island is just the beginning. Meet Cleo Anthony, Netflix's 'Money Shot' Documentary Trailer Shines A Harsh Light On Pornhub, The "Most Trafficked Website In The World", 'The Skinny Shot' on Hulu Is An Ozempic "Documentary" That Plays More Like A Commercial, Where Is Estonia Located? Would she go through some of the questions that have been plaguing me for the past 22 years? asks Yance. Triangle of Sadness Ending Explained: Does Abigail Kill Yaya? If you need social assistance, they're going to drug test you and make you work x amount of hours a week, and it doesn't matter if you don't have childcare. 2023 Cond Nast. Ford, Jr.,s killing. In Yance Fords powerful, disturbing, and very personal documentary, Ford was unarmed. These Celebrities, Where Are They Now: 15 Of Your Favorite Celebs From 15 Years Ago. eighties, Polaroids that have turned into a family archive. There's your semi-public life and your private life. I enjoyed my brother the hero, and a month or so later, that hero was dead. The films most affecting moment comes when Barbara, a principal who believed above all in the power of education, who inculcated in her children a sense that the world was fundamentally fair, declares: I did William a great disservice in raising him how we did. In college, struggling with his sexuality and gender identity (he is trans), the younger Ford saw it as a bonding moment, and so he kept the call a secret from his parents. How many of those murders aren't even being investigated? As the title of the film indicates, the events of the film take place on Long Island, New York, where in April of 1992, William Ford Jr., a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19-year-old mechanic after a series of arguments that began with a fender-bender. William Ford, a black man, was shot and killed at the age of 24 by a 19-year-old mechanic named Mark Reilly, at the auto shop where Ford's girlfriend's car was being repaired. I just wanted to know all the reasons exactly why. Then: Im not angry. Yance Ford documents not just the murder but the continuing effects of the tragedy and how it tore apart his family. Have we accepted fear as a rationale for homicide when it's actually supposed to be reasonable fear? Send us a tip using our annonymous form. Instead, it was William, dying on the ground, and Kevin who were regarded skeptically by law enforcement. Screen Slate is a guide to moving image culture. Ford and Reilly were never alone in the shop; Ford was What do you do when the This is about that: who William was, a reclamation of his identity and character. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. . if they didnt file a police report. STRONG ISLAND chronicles the arc of the Ford family; Barbara Dunmore, William Ford and their three children, and how their lives have been shaped by the enduring college graduations, and photographs from the nineteen-seventies and In April 1992, on Long Island NY, William Ford Jr., a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. What We Know About Her Continued 'Today Show' Absence, 'Jeopardy!' Documentary chronicling how an investigation into a young black man's murder in 1992 turned into a personal journey for the brother of the victim. It recounts the murder of Yance Ford's older brother William in 1992. mothers ability to do anything, Yance Ford says, and the children were reckless youth has been revised as a responsibility of black tutelage, a Reilly, who is white, was arrested for manslaughter. experience gave her a love of teaching. community. happened. Director: Yance Ford "Strong Island" is not an easy film to watch, but one, like Floyd Rance said, that needs to be seen. Detroit, Michigan, U.S. William Clay "Bill" Ford Jr. (born May 3, 1957) is an American businessman, serving as executive chairman of Ford Motor Company. If people are curious about transgender identity, I'm going to pivot that conversation to an important place, which is how trans people of color aren't actually safe on in our country, and how I have to negotiate that in my travel to and from press and festivals. children to judge people by their character, not by the color of their Fans Fuming Over Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings' Hosting Schedules: "I Want Ken Full-Time". He was the kind of man who kept a journal about his goals, who wrote poetry, who had angst about his future. Fifty years ago, a Kansas family picked up a hitchhiker on their way to Iowa. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/StrongIsland. Netflix/Strong Island The Fords had moved to Long Island from. After an argument over the delays, We then see Yance get decades-old information from a police officer after literally years of trying in vain to get any information about the investigation out of the authorities who says that the earlier altercation was indeed a big part of the reason why the grand jury thought Reilly was acting in self-defense. Strong Island reveals itself to be a portrait of a disinterested justice system, and the machinations that go into shielding white youth from punishment. I don't want to say that I'm not optimistic, but I don't think that optimism is in my toolbox of feelings, honestly. Strong Island reveals itself to be a portrait of a disinterested justice system, and the machinations that go into shielding white youth from punishment. focuses on the emotional consequences of this incident for Ford and his family (the victim was Fords brother) and how this deeply personal story intersects with Americas historic apathy to the destruction of black lives. But its actually a far more personal, probing project, less a relitigation than a reckoning, less a procedural than a film about the Sisyphean task of processing terrible grief. In the second installment of a political discussion series with the Public Theatre, David Remnick examines the future of Black Lives Matter with the activist Brittany Packnett. it cuts across class lines. When I spoke with Yance by phone, he. "Strong Island" tells the story of William Ford Jr., a 24-year-old African-American who was shot by Mark Reilly, a white car mechanic, during a dispute over repairs. autopsy report. Ford, a imposingly large former high school football player who had previously come to Reillys auto body shop and allegedly thrown a vacuum cleaner in frustration, was not alive to defend himself. Perhaps she And it's not over yet. Review: Strong Island Explores a Killing and Its Aftermath, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/movies/strong-island-review.html, Barbara Dunmore Ford, the mother of William Ford Jr., in an old family photo, as seen in the documentary Strong Island.. The Fords move out to Long Island is told as the story of Yances parents, who wanted better for their children than the acidic racism of the Jim Crow south. Ford began work on Strong Island, and his is the other absence mourned In January,Strong Island won the Sundance Film Festival special jury award for storytelling, with Netflix acquiring the film soon after. great disservice in raising him the way we did, she says. In April 1992, black 24-year-old teacher William Ford Jr. was gunned down by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. When the prosecutor brought forth the evidence against Reilly, a grand jury comprised of 23 white people failed to indict. I'm worried. 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Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan. Available on: Netflix. The vehicle that 24-year-old William Jr. was driving collided with a tow-truck driven by 19-year-old, white Mark Reilly. He was shot in the chest with a rifle by Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Dunmore Ford And if we're going to focus on me as a transgender African American, then we need to extrapolate from the violence that's perpetrated against trans women of color especially: How many of those murders have gone unsolved? shielded the white youth immediately, never doubting his testimony that Yance Ford has directed a movie about the death of his brother that distills this kind of frustration into something heartbreaking, but thats what makes it a vital and powerful film. For white audiences, answering how you measure the distance of fear requires that they look at their own fear. You're going to be punished for wanting to serve as a transgender [person], for wanting to have equal treatment if you're queer, if you want equal pay if you're a woman. I hear a lot of talk on the net and on my Facebook feed about self-care, and I think that as a nation we need to understand that there are a lot of people in a lot of different positions in this society who need mental healthcare. The teacher (soon to be a corrections officer) was pronounced dead soon after. Strong Island It is heartbreaking to hear Fords mother reproach herself STRONG ISLAND chronicles the arc of the Ford family; Barbara Dunmore, William Ford and their three children, and how their lives have been shaped by the enduring shadow of race in America. The 1967 film Guess Whos Coming to Dinner starred Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton as a ne, Tessa Thompson Talks Going To Couples Therapy With Michael B. Jordan. When Will 'Attack on Titan' Season 4, Part 4 Air? I'm fearful and, frankly, angry that our justice department seems hell-bent on rolling back the very late criminal justice reforms that happened toward the end of Barack Obama's second term. "Strong Island" is an example of how the justice system . The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. Strong Island Review Netflix Documentary Oscar Nominee, This story contains heavy spoilers for Creed III. STRONG ISLAND, 2017. . Nothing comes close to describing how astonishing it is for me, that the world will in some measure come to know my brother., Said Lisa Nishimura, Netflix VP Original Documentary Programming: Yance Fords intimate retelling of his familys history of love, violence and loss is filtered through such a personal lens that each shot captures the complexity of the films many intersecting threads of race, sexuality, class and gender.. William, an unarmed, black 24-year-old teacher, was slain by Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old white man who was working at an auto body shop on Long Island. All rights reserved. His friend Kevin Myers, who was outside the body In 1992, an unarmed 24-year-old Long Island man named William Ford, Jr., was shot and killed during a dispute with a 19-year-old auto mechanic named Mark Reilly. On Sept. 15, Netflix dropped new documentary Strong Island, . In April 1992, on Long Island NY, William Ford Jr., a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. inside themselves, away from family connection. But when he questioned the forces tactics, his life began to erode. himself weighed, and how much Ford weighedas if to gauge how much of a He was shot dead by Mark Reilly, a young white mechanic. Early on in the film, Yance Ford says, I am UsefulNotes/Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Do you feel any fear within your own personal transformation? Would you like to receive invitations to our screenings? Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Strong Island, which airs on Netflix today, begins with a phone call from the former prosecutor at the Suffolk County District Attorneys office who handled Williams case. Yet this potent film gives equal weight to complex emotions as well as bare facts. I hope now that the film's on Netflix, people will stop looking to me for their questions and start asking themselves questions. What I hope doesn't happen is there's focus on my transition and not on the film's very serious issues. Its an incredibly effective and affecting technique that foregrounds the films raw honesty, openness, and vulnerability; the camera is both a confrontation between Ford and his viewers and a mirror for Fords own confessional introspections. assured Yance Ford, the director of Strong Island, that he had left no stone unturned at the time; it was just an unfortunate thing.. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. That includes himself. Netflix describes Fords film as a deeply intimate and meditative film. Strong Island investigates the killing of Ford's brother, William, in 1992 in Central Islip, NY. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. The Terrifying Car Crash That Inspired a Masterpiece. It draws a line around your life, she says. the blow of racial injustice and fell apart. 947, This story has been shared 852 times. he was frightened of Ford, a short but stocky young black man. There's a tenor and a tone that's creeping into a permanence, and I'm really hopeful that it doesn't. Fords mother, Barbara Those are system fails you? Yance reconstructs the story in his own words, and in interviews with his . The powerful and very personal documentary Strong Island is the story of a black family that could not sustain the blow of racial injustice and fell apart. Just talking about my transition and when I "came out" is a bit weird, because we have this expectation that every moment of our lives and realization about ourselves is going to be lived in some public arena. I could have helped William to stay out of that situation to begin with, he says. 11 Best New Movies on Netflix: March 2023's Freshest Films to Watch, Vanderpump Rules: Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix Break Up After He Reportedly Cheated With Raquel Leviss, Sex/Life Season 2: Adam Demos Tops His Famous Full Frontal Moment With, Uh, Tip, New Movies on Streaming: 'Magic Mike's Last Dance' + More, 'Next In Fashion' Season 2 on Netflix: Follow the Designers on Instagram, 'Wheel of Fortune' Gets Awkward as Pat Sajak Snaps at Contestant for Grabbing Wheel: "Don't Touch That", Is 'Yellowstone' On Tonight? after 9/11, to protect his new country. although the property taxes were high. Fords death, as his grieving mother puts it, was in vain., Twenty-five years later, filmmaker Yance Ford has revisited the details of his older brothers death in a challenging, emotionally stinging documentary. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Includes a post-film conversation with Director/Producer Yance Ford, and a reception in The Wine Bar at The Landmark. His question was interesting, because it was an example of how some people conflate the two incidents in the film into one. Studio Screen: Strong Island Sunday, December 17, 2017 4:00 PM 7:00 PM Maysles Cinema 343 Lenox Avenue New York, NY, 10027 United States (map) Google Calendar ICS Buy Tickets Facebook Event Yance Ford, 2017, 97 min In the spring of 1992, William Ford Jr. was murdered by a young white mechanic named Mark Reilly. No, the lawyer responds. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. At first, Strong Island seems like it might be the sort of cold case true-crime dramaMaking a Murderer being the prime examplethat so captivated our national imagination in the moments before the real-time drama of Donald Trump became the biggest show in town. The generational exchange that was once the auto mechanic had had no reason to be fearful during either of his right, and then were destroyed by all the things that they thought Since Trayvon Martins killing, we have become familiar with the As the title of the film indicates, the events of the film take place on Long Island, New York, where in April of 1992, William Ford Jr., a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a . The shops owner had a record of running More than twenty years later, the investigating officer on the case Strong Island, directed by William's younger brother, Yance Ford, is a document of that murder and of the family that fractured in its wake. Ford was unarmed, Reilly brandished a rifle, and the teenagerwho had an extensive criminal recordtook one shot at Ford, piercing him in the heart. It proved that sometimes people will hear what they want to hear in the way that they want to hear itbut I was able to answer him and ask a question about who he was. had a good time, while the parents labored to keep them in Catholic What to Know About 'The Bachelor' Season 27, Episode 6 Filming Location, Mark Wahlbergs "Checkered Racist Past" Has Fans Questioning Why He Presented 'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once' Cast With SAG Award, 'Bon Jovi: Live In New York' Sees Band At The Peak Of Their Powers, Stream It Or Skip It: 'Daisy Jones & The Six on Prime Video, About The Popular Explosion and Personal Implosion Of A Fictional '70s Rock Band, 'The Weeknd: Live At Sofi Stadium' Finds The Singer Alone At Center Stage, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song Charts Complicated Route From Creation to Mass Acceptance, Disney100 Funko Pops Are Here, And They're Adorable, Stream It Or Skip It: Lyle Lyle Crocodile on Netflix, an Extremely Silly Musical About a Singing Reptile, Stream It Or Skip It: Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank on Prime Video, the Animated Kid-Friendly Version of 'Blazing Saddles' You Didn't Know You Didn't Need, Stream It Or Skip It: True Spirit on Netflix, A Movie Based On The True Story of a Teen's Global Sailing Voyage, How to Stream and Buy the 'Daisy Jones & The Six' 'Aurora' Album Now, 'Daisy Jones & The Six Episode 3 Recap: "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", Shop Amazon's 'Daisy Jones & The Six' Store To Get Looks From The Show, 'Daisy Jones & The Six' Episode 2 Recap: "I'll Take You There", 'Sex/Life' Season 2's 11 Raunchiest Moments, 11 Best New Shows on Netflix: March 2023's Top Upcoming Series to Watch, 'Sex/Life' Season 2 Said Pregnant Women Can Have Sex With Adam Demos, Too, Sex/Life Season 2s Wildest Scene is a Guy Pumping Up His New Prosthetic Penis.

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