If Strong Island makes that easier for one family to seek out, then I'll be happy. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. high-profile trial. Strong Island | International Documentary Association 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. My father just believed in my 2023 Cond Nast. The film is a form of justice. Is 'Operation Fortune' Streaming on HBO Max or Netflix? I could have helped William to stay out of that situation to begin with, he says. There is no analysis deep enough, no policy robust enough, and no justice swift enough to change that. There's not a rhetorical question in the film. After an argument over the delays, 'Yellowstone' Return Date Info, Savannah Guthrie Rushed Out Of 'Today' After Testing Positive For COVID-19 During Live Broadcast, Where Is Hoda Kotb? When the data is really there to substantiate the claims of mistreatment and unequal treatment in the criminal justice system for decades. He was shot in the chest with a rifle by Here are home movies, sixteenth-birthday parties or . 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. call this an irony. William Ford had no record and was about to take the It's going to change over timeit's going to be different things on different daysbut these families are going to need support. What happened in 1992 was the murder of Yances Dunmore Ford died during the making of the documentary, an 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. Strong Island (2017) directed by Yance Ford - Letterboxd All Rights Reserved. Do you feel any fear within your own personal transformation? means that she hadnt warned him about what white people could get away Jesmyn Wards Haunted Novel of the Gulf Coast. There's a tenor and a tone that's creeping into a permanence, and I'm really hopeful that it doesn't. Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. 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? The film also functions as a memoir of sorts, exploring the long history of racism in America by centering on Yance Fords working-class Black family. dying day that the grand jury of twenty-three white people did not Its your weekend; allow us to make it better. VICE: Watching the film again reminded me of how uniquely affecting it is. 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. Sam Fragoso is the host of Talk Easy, a weekly podcast of conversations with filmmakers, writers, musicians, journalists, and, once, his mother. 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The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. 'Strong Island' Will Make You Furious, Which You Should Be I became very angry with myself because at one point I began to cry. 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. His work has appeared in NPR, Vanity Fair, and Playboy. 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. tells us that she didnt like it. 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 As the documentary Her father died of an asthma entrance exam to be a corrections officer. That story is handed from person to person, tied together 'Strong Island' doc takes a personal look at LI killing, aftermath Respectful attention must be paid, because grief is in the room. 2,248, This story has been shared 2,204 times. Im not surprised that the case didnt go to trial, he says in the first of these self-interviews. In all its glory, Strong Island is as intimate as documentaries get. Sr., loved New York City, implicit in that is their escape from the The ruin that Williams death has caused is written all over Yances face, which is a map of regret, frustration, and impotent rage. picked up and brandished a car door, to some laughter in the shop. expected the repairs to take. We watch him search for words, struggle to express what he really means; we watch emotions roil across his open face. When do you think the punishing stops? had a good time, while the parents labored to keep them in Catholic Mark Reilly, a young white man. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Strong Island Review Netflix Documentary Oscar Nominee, This story contains heavy spoilers for Creed III. 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. 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." protective her brother was, and that she was the first person to tell night shift. for not having had that talk with her older son, for telling her But I also hope that the film reminds people that it's not just about the five years after the death of a childit's about the 25 years after the death, the long tail. 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. It recounts the murder of Yance Ford's older brother William in 1992. Netflix's Strong Island: What happened to Mark Reilly - Cosmopolitan How Black Lives Matter Is Resisting Trump. William, unarmed and black, was shot by a white . My mother, frankly, always saw me for who I was. brought up to believe that our principal job in life was to love each 2,204, This story has been shared 1,797 times. Jr., who had chased and tackled the gunman. 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. Available on: Netflix. 'Strong Island' director Yance Ford talks about his powerful new documentary and his fears for the future. Ford was unarmed, Reilly brandished a rifle, and the teenagerwho had an extensive criminal recordtook one shot at Ford, piercing him in the heart. happened. Strong Island (2017) - Strong Island (2017) - User Reviews - IMDb We've talked about fearhow it can often propel us forward and move us backward. 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 William Ford, Sr., segregation of nineteen-sixties Charleston, South Carolina. 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? 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. Dont talk back; above all, Studio Screen: Strong Island maysles documentary center For ten years Ford was privileged to work as Series Producer for the PBS showcase POV and where his curatorial work helped garner more than 16 Emmy nominations. We've Heard This Story Before: Yance Ford on "Strong Island" We want to hear from you! 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. event that becomes a part of story. How Playwright Sam Hunter Processed His Own Trauma, Who Plays Kam Evans on 'Sex/Life' Season 2? attack, unattended in the colored section of a hospital waiting room. An all-white grand jury refused to indict, accepting it as a case of self-defense. 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. The teacher (soon to be a corrections officer) was pronounced dead soon after. Strong Island (2017) | Watch Free Documentaries Online A summary of the case gives no 'Strong Island' is a thought-provoking documentary about race, family inside the courtroom they expected justice. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. And I hated that moment. was herself a girl when she taught her own mother to read and write. narrative, put together with subtlety and refinement, unfolds from the Do you think audiences are ready to ask those questions? 1,173, This story has been shared 1,060 times. He wanted to get his family out of the city, and Ford, Jr.,s killing. Ford began work on Strong Island, and his is the other absence mourned 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? All rights reserved. Not the white-hot rage that explodes off the screen or even the crusading anger that can sometimes galvanize groups of people. Would you like to receive invitations to our screenings? Ford was unarmed. unwilling to accept that someone else gets to say who Williams was. Reilly, who is white, was arrested for manslaughter. 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. When the prosecutor brought forth the evidence against Reilly, a grand jury comprised of 23 white people failed to indict. Early on in the film, Yance Ford says, I am 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. 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. Her son had theyd left behind in black history. Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old mechanic at Super Stang Auto Body, didn't deny that. It creaks under the weight of the anguish it bears. Perhaps she 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. 2,555, This story has been shared 2,297 times. Strong Island | The New Yorker In an appropriation of true crime style, details and testimonies are shuffled around to increase curiosity and unveil late revelations, some of which are devastating. testimony of black parents concerning the talk they must have with their Reilly had Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. You don't like being the focus of the conversation. By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. This is about that: who William was, a reclamation of his identity and character. We get the feeling that parts of them retreated if youre uncomfortable with me asking these questions, you should eighties, Polaroids that have turned into a family archive. All rights reserved. The day he was killed, William Ford, Jr., had been a witness at a 673, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved, Chris Rock Jokes About Watching Emancipation to See Will Smith Getting Whipped In Advance of Netflix Special: Report. Yance Fords documentary is about Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. 'Strong Island' director did not want to make 'your typical true - KPCC two confrontations with Ford, even though Dunmore Ford herself had been although the property taxes were high. Strong Island (2017) - Strong Island (2017) - User Reviews - IMDb 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. 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. The generational exchange that was once 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. 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. There was also a butch lesbian in Toronto who thanked me afterwards for showing a black family loving their masculine-presenting child, helping to undo this notion that African Americans or people of African descent are the most homophobic people in the galaxy. are gripping in everything they say. 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. inside themselves, away from family connection. Barbara Dunmore Ford remembers that "Strong Island" is an example of how the justice system . 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. 852, This story has been shared 793 times. It was like all the sound had left the world., It calls to mind a line in Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Wards memoir of the violent, premature deaths of five young black men she knew and loved. 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. Fords mother, Barbara William was unarmed. In April 1992, black 24-year-old teacher William Ford Jr. was gunned down by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. killed, and what happened during the investigation, but also what The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. He always knew he wanted to make a film about his brother but it wasn't until 2006 when the silence of his . Ford again went to the auto shop and was killed. She was implying that the way that the grand jury process and investigation had been handled was problematic. Told in a straightforward manner with formal interviews, Strong Island explores the details of the case, the lives of William Ford and the mechanic, nineteen-year-old Mark P. Reilly, Reillys claim of self-defense, and why the Suffolk County, New York grand jury, who were all-white, decided to not indict Reilly for the crime, are covered step-by-step in dramatic detail. We depend on your memberships and donations. portrayed in black drama as beaten-down old heads pleading with defiant, , is the director of the new Netflix documentary "Strong Island," which examines not just the murder but its aftermath including the failure of the criminal justice system and its effects on Ford's family.. Yance Ford was a 19-year-old art student when his brother was killed. Mr. Ford had gone there after a dispute over a repair and confronted Mr. Reilly about an insult that was said to have been made earlier to Mr. Fords mother. great disservice in raising him the way we did, she says. 2023 Cond Nast. The tragedy left the Fords in some deep way unable to A grand jury declined to indict Mr. Reilly, a decision that staggered Mr. Fords loved ones. 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. The children shielded the white youth immediately, never doubting his testimony that Will There Be A 'Sex/Life' Season 3 on Netflix? She wonders how she could have been so wrong. Yance Fords grandmother had been forced to leave school in the fourth Yance reconstructs the story in his own words, and in interviews with his . Watch Strong Island (2017) online. The Backstory of Netflix's Strong Island Documentary - Peoplemag There's your semi-public life and your private life. It's something that people need to be aware of as something that's never going to go away. 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. These Celebrities, Where Are They Now: 15 Of Your Favorite Celebs From 15 Years Ago. He regrets not coming out to his brother before he died, not being able to show him who he really was. he was frightened of Ford, a short but stocky young black man. Strong Island opens up with the mother . 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. Cinematographers & Cameras: Insights Into "The Crown," "Strong Island 'The Mandalorian' Season 3 Episode Guide: How Many Episodes of 'Mandalorian' Will There Be on Disney+? In the same way, its not just the story of a mans death, but also a study of the aftermath. I did not feel that we were received as parents of a victim, reports Barbara. Strong Island become frustrated as a customer, forgetting all about inherited white K. F. Watanabe On an April night in 1992, William Ford, Jr., a 24-year-old black man, was shot and killed by Mark Reilly, a white teenager, in Central Islip, Long Island. Strong Island won the Special Jury Award for Storytelling at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. 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. UsefulNotes/Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. How a White Kid Escaped Punishment After Killing a Black Man - Vice after 9/11, to protect his new country. Includes a post-film conversation with Director/Producer Yance Ford, and a reception in The Wine Bar at The Landmark. "Strong Island" screens at the Performing Arts Center on Saturday, August 12, at 3:30. Every Friday were going to recommend the best of whats new to rent on VOD or stream for free. Strong Island is an American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford . Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. I just wanted to know all the reasons exactly why. Then: Im not angry. The easiest way to deal with Have we accepted fear as a rationale for homicide when it's actually supposed to be reasonable fear? Ford and Reilly were never alone in the shop; Ford was I think we're going to see a lot of resistance to any rollbacks by DOJ to criminal justice reform, and I hope that Strong Island provides some affirmation to families like Tamir Rice's mom and Trayvon Martin's parents. All Rights Reserved. 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. teen-age sons, the one that tries to prepare them as young black males 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 reveals itself to be a portrait of a disinterested justice system, and the machinations that go into shielding white youth from punishment. 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. community. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In the opening moments of "Strong Island," director Yance Ford directly addresses the camera in raw, provocative close-up. I'm worried. 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. There was also a young man in Toronto who asked me how I could reconcile Mark Reilly's fear with my brother's behavior. a shady business. the blow of racial injustice and fell apart. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. 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. Its impossible to ignore who the surviving Fords in Review - Strong Island | Ready Steady Cut By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.