Strong Island (2017) directed by Yance Ford - Letterboxd The entire feature is a personal journey for the filmmaker, who has had to endure years of pain because of their brother's death, which has received no justice at all despite the seemingly obvious murder. probably get up and go. Racism is character assassination. The easiest way to deal with return a true bill because her son was a black man. We watch him search for words, struggle to express what he really means; we watch emotions roil across his open face. Best Picture Nominee Triangle of Sadness Is Now Streaming on Hulu, Stream It Or Skip It: 'Gulmohar' on Hulu, a Hindi Family-Ties Drama Marking the Return of Sharmila Tagore, Steven Spielberg Broke Down in Tears Seeing Paul Dano and Michelle Williams as His Parents in 'The Fabelmans', Is Brendan Frasers The Whale Based on a True Story? to speak of it, even to the self. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. For audiences that experience this and are finally being believed because of social media, cellphone cameras, body cameras, empirical studies from people like the Marshall Project, books like The New Jim Crow it's like, "OK, finally, now we believe you." I just wanted to know all the reasons exactly why. Then: Im not angry. When I say, "How do you measure the distance of reasonable fear?," it's a real question. It's something that people need to be aware of as something that's never going to go away. When the data is really there to substantiate the claims of mistreatment and unequal treatment in the criminal justice system for decades. Its a talk rooted in black history, and Strong Island, a documentary chronicling the 1992 murder of first-time filmmaker Yance Ford's brother, William Ford Jr., and the effect it had on him and his family, incorporates the dynamics of a police-like procedural and gut-wrenching, upfront, self- confession. In the same way, its not just the story of a mans death, but also a study of the aftermath. reckless youth has been revised as a responsibility of black tutelage, a A white assistant district attorney in Brooklyn had Includes a post-film conversation with Director/Producer Yance Ford, and a reception in The Wine Bar at The Landmark. Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan. That's the thing that's going to be tough for people. Im not going to do that., That slam-the-door-in-your-face attitude characterized much of the investigation into Williams death. My sister is my best friend. Strong Island tells either of a racist coverup or of the racism that 2022 International Documentary Association. What do you do when the It draws a line around your life, she says. Strong Island is so quiet, so dignifiedif that is not too Booker T. Fords mother, Barbara are gripping in everything they say. Strong Island, a documentary chronicling the 1992 murder of first-time filmmaker Yance Ford's brother, William Ford Jr., and the effect it had on him and his family, incorporates the dynamics of a police-like procedural and gut-wrenching, upfront, self- confession. 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. In Yance Fords powerful, disturbing, and very personal documentary, Utilizing a creative mixture of traditional and non-traditional documentary approaches, Ford also investigates what really happened the night his brother died, a question that is foregrounded as significant for personal reasons yet ultimately not the entire point. schools, because, in reality, the public schools werent good enough, When Will 'Attack on Titan' Season 4, Part 4 Air? 947, This story has been shared 852 times. the auto mechanic had had no reason to be fearful during either of his Reilly, who is white, was arrested for manslaughter. Yance Fords hands shuffling the photographs, laying them out, and Yance 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. The painful, intimate story of grief to follow focuses on the life and sudden death of Yance's older brother Williammurdered in cold blood in 1992 at the age of 24. Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. Angry words were exchanged until Super Stang employee Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old white man, went into the garage and out of sight. That includes himself. Reilly was never brought to trial. When Dunmore Ford recalls how much she and her husband, William Ford, I'm not necessarily in a state of transformationI'm just being more public about it, which is a semi-uncomfortable place because I'm a private person. A Yanceville Films and Louverture Films production, Strong Island was produced by Ford and Joslyn Barnes and was co-produced by Signe Byrge Srensen for Final Cut for Real. William Jr., the Ford's eldest child, a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. To Tell the Story That Tells the Trial: Ulises de la Orden on El juicio. In April 1992, black 24-year-old teacher William Ford Jr. was gunned down by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. . The day he was killed, William Ford, Jr., had been a witness at a black enclave of Central Islip. Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old mechanic at Super Stang Auto Body, didn't deny that. theyd left behind in black history. 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. Reilly shot Ford through the heart with a rifle but an all-white grand jury, after a less-than-enthusiastic investigation, declined to issue an indictment, and the case died. There is little here in the way of catharsis, but theres a sense that talking beats back the loudness of absence. 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? Strong Island (film) - Wikipedia other. William and Yances younger sister Lauren Ford remembers how 'Strong Island' director Yance Ford talks about his powerful new documentary and his fears for the future. 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 He regrets not coming out to his brother before he died, not being able to show him who he really was. He was killed right outside of his home, and his mother has to look at the spot where her son died every time she sits on her front porch. "Strong Island" is an example of how the justice system . Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. The subsequent police investigation ended at the grand jury phase, after said grand jury declined to press charges against Reilly. check on the car. Send us a tip using our annonymous form. The film is a form of justice. . Ad Choices, Actor Graham McTavish Planned a Scottish Castle Wedding for His Bride Garance Dor, 70 Incredible Forgotten Photos From Vintage Oscar Nights, Phil Ohs Best Street Style Photos From the Fall 2023 Shows in Paris. All Rights Reserved. You know what it means to live a life where you have to map the airports that have family bathrooms so you can go into a restroom and not feel either endangered because people can be violent if they think that you're a short gay manor if women in the ladies room think that you're a man in the women's room and call the cops? great disservice in raising him the way we did, she says. own brother, a black teacher, William Ford, Jr., who grew up in the Strong Island | International Documentary Association All rights reserved. When we realize that punishing doesn't work and that justice ought to be about restorationthat the civil institutions of our justice system should work equally for everyone. He was shot dead by Mark Reilly, a young white mechanic. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. actor Ken Curtis I did not feel that we were received as parents of a victim, reports Barbara. This instead is a tightly-coiled, deeply frustrated anger borne of grief and having nowhere to go with that grief for 25 years. 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. Review: 'Strong Island' Explores a Killing and Its Aftermath 852, This story has been shared 793 times. How a White Kid Escaped Punishment After Killing a Black Man - Vice Reilly claimed self-defense. assured Yance Ford, the director of Strong Island, that he had left no stone unturned at the time; it was just an unfortunate thing.. 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. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); WatchDocumentaries.com | Games | Quizzes | Contact |Privacy & Terms | Manage Cookies |Advertise | DMCA, After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News. Yance Fords documentary is about Netflix's Strong Island: A Family Searches for Answers - PEOPLE.com Strong Island questions whether justice can be found, through the intimate story of the filmmaker's brother who was lost to gun violence, and the family's painful search for answers. Strong Island (2017) - Strong Island (2017) - User Reviews - IMDb testimony of black parents concerning the talk they must have with their Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. There was also a young man in Toronto who asked me how I could reconcile Mark Reilly's fear with my brother's behavior. This story has been shared 3,511 times. "I was like, 'What's a synonym for journey, goddamn it? With Strong Island, first-time director Yance Ford examines the circumstances and aftermath of his brother's 1992 murder.When 24-year-old William Ford, Jr. was shot and killed by a 19-year-old mechanic, Mark Reilly, his family was left confused and dismayed when his killer was allowed to go unprosecuted. mothers ability to do anything, Yance Ford says, and the children were Her father died of an asthma shop when the shooting occurred, was prepared to testify in court that The children An all-white grand jury voted not to indict Reilly and the investigation has remained sealed. The shops owner had a record of running 3,511, This story has been shared 2,623 times. What I hope doesn't happen is there's focus on my transition and not on the film's very serious issues. 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. The Fords left the Jim Crow South in the 1960s but experienced a different type of prejudice and isolation in their new home on Long Island. 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. "Mark Reilly already said everything he had to say to me when he shot and killed my brother." Ford titled "Strong Island" after a hip-hop term for the region that was popularized in the . I did William a We're a long way from there. cowardly of the viewer to look away. 'Strong Island,' about 1992 LI killing, coming to Netflix Twenty-four-year-old teacher William Ford was shot and killed after having an altercation with a white mechanic, and the killer was never charged. In January,Strong Island won the Sundance Film Festival special jury award for storytelling, with Netflix acquiring the film soon after. How Black Lives Matter Is Resisting Trump. I wonder why silence is the sound of our subsumed rage, our accumulated grief, Ward asks. After an argument over the delays, He keeps the camera closely trained on the faces of those whove suffered emotional wounds that wont heal, and who live with regrets that are devastating. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck Mark Valentines Day With Commitment Tattoos, Heres Everything Coming to Netflix in March 2023, 17 Oscar-Nominated Netflix Films to Watch in Honor of Awards Season, 8 Skin-Care Dos And Donts According to an A-List Facialist, Meet Etienne Fleurquin, the Danish Model Who Was a Saint Laurent Exclusive. It recounts the murder of Yance Ford's older brother William in 1992. Her son had Its impossible to ignore who the surviving Fords in The people in my life, who have been with me in my darkest timesmy partner of 21 years, my siblingshave always seen me for who I am, even if I didn't have the language for my gender identity. for encounters with the police. 'Strong Island' director did not want to make 'your typical true - KPCC tells a grand jury is crucial. Its my hope that this film will offer some a way to make sense of their own experience, and others a new way of seeing. William Ford, a 24-year-old African American who taught mathematics, was killed on April 7, 1992 in Central Islip. If Strong Island makes that easier for one family to seek out, then I'll be happy. 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. Fords voice interrogating the past, face tightly framed. of his family he gave up school and became an M.T.A. William was unarmed. . sense of the experience of watching Strong Island, in which the visual . William Ford, Sr. had hoped to be a draftsman, but in order to take care 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. 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. makes plain, the grand jury didnt care to find out what really 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. call this an irony. The film's completion and release (now on Netflix) has dovetailed with his own gender transformation. 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. 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? right, and then were destroyed by all the things that they thought Although Ford was unarmed, he . Netflix's Strong Island: What happened to Mark Reilly - Cosmopolitan Strong Island's Yance Ford: 'I have no interest in giving my brother's to indict Reilly for manslaughter, accepting the district attorneys details are important. in this film. held onto Fords girlfriends car for longer than the couple had protective her brother was, and that she was the first person to tell He was Williams confidante when the latter called to brag about the incident with the vacuum cleaner. picked up and brandished a car door, to some laughter in the shop. 'Mandalorian' Funko Pops up to 77% Off Baby Yoda and More for Season 3, Who Plays the Armorer in 'The Mandalorian'? 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Netflix/Strong Island The Fords had moved to Long Island from. 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. 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. No, the lawyer responds. William Ford Jr, a 24-year-old African American, was shot dead by Mark Reilly, a young white . As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. She was implying that the way that the grand jury process and investigation had been handled was problematic. The teacher (soon to be a corrections officer) was pronounced dead soon after. Ford was black, Reilly white. I'm afraid that our civil society is being torn apart bit by bitand not just by tweets and ridiculous statements about good people on both sides. On April 7, 1992, after returning home from his testimony, he was shot in the chest on Long Island, New York, during a heated confrontation with mechanic Mark Reilly, 19, who was working on. William, unarmed and black, was shot by a white . 2023 Cond Nast. Netflix describes Fords film as a deeply intimate and meditative film. comfort one another. How Playwright Sam Hunter Processed His Own Trauma, Who Plays Kam Evans on 'Sex/Life' Season 2? His work has appeared in NPR, Vanity Fair, and Playboy. S, Welcome to Love Like This?, a romance column where we, Kathleen Newman-Bremang and Ineye Komonibo, revisit some of the most romantic or not, in hindsig, Whether its the iconic early-aughts film Love Dont Cost a Thing or her 2021 Netflix hit Resort to Love, Christina Milian has solidified herself in th, This story contains spoilers for Netflixs You People. Do you think audiences are ready to ask those questions? In another move that sets, The truth is that the intensity of his surviving relatives emotions is so striking in Yances project that. Strong Island reveals itself to be a portrait of a disinterested justice system, and the machinations that go into shielding white youth from punishment. Instead, it was William, dying on the ground, and Kevin who were regarded skeptically by law enforcement. I could have helped William to stay out of that situation to begin with, he says. 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. There's your semi-public life and your private life. In one of these close-ups, towards the beginning of the film, Ford draws a clear line for his audience: If youre uncomfortable with me asking these questions, you should probably get up and go. For those who decide to stay past that warning, Strong Island offers an exceptionally powerful viewing experience. Washington a thing to say. 1,060, This story has been shared 947 times. children to judge people by their character, not by the color of their Rikers Island, says in Strong Island that she will believe until her real-estate developers in Central Islip were looking for black His friend Kevin Myers, who was outside the body 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. Film Reviews. Since Trayvon Martins killing, we have become familiar with the event that becomes a part of story. Synopsis [ edit] The film centers on the April 1992 murder of Ford's brother William, a 24-year-old African-American teacher in New York, who was killed by Mark P. Reilly, a 19-year-old white chop shop mechanic. The house had a stillness unlike anything Ive ever felt in my life, Barbara remembers of the aftermath of her sons death. And 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.. "Strong Island" tells the story of the murder of 24-year-old Ford, a black teacher killed by a white 19-year-old mechanic named Mark Reilly in Long Island in 1992. 'Strong Island' doc takes a personal look at LI killing, aftermath community. Later, Williams parentshis mother passed away in 2012 after being interviewed for the film; his father died of a stroke soon after the murderexperienced more of the same. 2,555, This story has been shared 2,297 times. 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. 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 He was shot in the chest with a rifle by
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