All rights reserved. 'Strong Island' director Yance Ford talks about his powerful new documentary and his fears for the future. 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. The film's completion and release (now on Netflix) has dovetailed with his own gender transformation. 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. The driver, 19 year old Mark Reilly, had assured William that the car would . 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. real-estate developers in Central Islip were looking for black I did William a When the prosecutor brought forth the evidence against Reilly, a grand jury comprised of 23 white people failed to indict. 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. What do you do when the 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. Strong Island is so quiet, so dignifiedif that is not too Booker T. system fails you? probably get up and go. Racism is character assassination. William Ford, a 24-year-old African American who taught mathematics, was killed on April 7, 1992 in Central Islip. 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. means that she hadnt warned him about what white people could get away Jr., who had chased and tackled the gunman. 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. 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. 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? Will There Be A 'Sex/Life' Season 3 on Netflix? I just wanted to know all the reasons exactly why. Then: Im not angry. My sister is my best friend. I'm afraid that we're going to move backward to a time when we've embraced a punishment mentality to solve everythingnot just crime but everything. Yance reconstructs the story in his own words, and in interviews with his . a shady business. other. William and Yances younger sister Lauren Ford remembers how 1,173, This story has been shared 1,060 times. It draws a line around your life, she says. The family understood that what a D.A. 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. Ford, Jr.,s killing. The effect is intense and elegiac, even as the pace veers toward the overly deliberate, and as Mr. Reilly and some essential witnesses arent interviewed or approached by the filmmaker; no explanation for this omission is given. Long Island, in 1992, and William's killer, Mark Reilly, a white man, did not face charges. from the last pages of William Ford, Jr.,s journal, and from his 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. before, and a deal was struck whereby the auto shop would fix the damage tells a grand jury is crucial. Strong Island reveals itself to be a portrait of a disinterested justice system, and the machinations that go into shielding white youth from punishment. experience gave her a love of teaching. Jesmyn Wards Haunted Novel of the Gulf Coast. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/StrongIsland. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. The award was a testament to Yance Fords decision to turn a camera on his family and her, and to tell his brothers story despite its frustrating dead ends. 2,555, This story has been shared 2,297 times. It is jagged with anger. Yance Ford: I was at Sundanceit was maybe our second screeningand someone in the audience during the Q&A said she'd been in the Bronx ADA's office for 18 years, and that in her opinion, something very wrong happened with this case. I remember the first time I really understood what love was or at least what a nine-year-old could understand as romantic love. Sam Fragoso is the host of Talk Easy, a weekly podcast of conversations with filmmakers, writers, musicians, journalists, and, once, his mother. This story has been shared 3,511 times. Mr. Ford had gone there after a dispute. My mother, frankly, always saw me for who I was. by phone calls in the middle of the night, every night; nevertheless, 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. 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. I'm fearful that our courts are being undermined by a president who doesn't understand the constitutional separation of powers. 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 . segregation of nineteen-sixties Charleston, South Carolina. Although Ford was unarmed, he . happened. City, William Ford, Jr., a twenty-four-year-old man, was shot and killed The house had a stillness unlike anything Ive ever felt in my life, Barbara remembers of the aftermath of her sons death. 3,511, This story has been shared 2,623 times. if they didnt file a police report. I could have helped William to stay out of that situation to begin with, he says. No, the lawyer responds. How many of those murders aren't even being investigated? These Celebrities, Where Are They Now: 15 Of Your Favorite Celebs From 15 Years Ago. In a week where a reality TV favourite finally addressed its known colorism problem, Netflix UK dropped The Strays (February 22) a psycholo, Over the decades, popular culture has created dominant narratives of the Dominican Republic that are most often synonymous with poverty, crime, or state vi, This story contains spoilers for Ant-Man: Quantumania. Ford was unarmed, Reilly brandished a rifle, and the teenagerwho had an extensive criminal recordtook one shot at Ford, piercing him in the heart. The children unwilling to accept that someone else gets to say who Williams was. Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan. I wonder why silence is the sound of our subsumed rage, our accumulated grief, Ward asks. Her father died of an asthma Dunmore Ford There's not a rhetorical question in the film. We always tried to teach you guys that you see character, not color. 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. motorman, working the Reilly was never brought to trial. I decide this is not right, that I must give voice to this story.. 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. The film is a form of justice. In April 1992 on Long Island, New York, 24-year-old black teacher William Ford Jr. was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19-year-old mechanic. Respectful attention must be paid, because grief is in the room. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. call this an irony. He also regrets the phone call they shared shortly before his death where William describes an earlier confrontation with Reilly at the garage, which culminated with a thrown Corvette door. More than twenty years later, the investigating officer on the case There's a tenor and a tone that's creeping into a permanence, and I'm really hopeful that it doesn't. 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. gangsta rap of that time, 1992, the year of William Ford, Jr.,s death. cowardly of the viewer to look away. Netflix just dropped another true crime documentary. Detectives seemed only interested in asking the friend how much he Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. And I hated that moment. Tom Sizemore Dies: 'Saving Private Ryan' & 'Black Hawk Down' Star Was 61; Reactions + Career In Photos, A24 Buys Historic Off Broadway Cherry Lane Theatre For $10M, Ke Huy Quan Lost Health Insurance After Filming Everything Everywhere All At Once, Jay Weston Dies: Lady Sings The Blues Producer Who Gave Al Pacino Broadway Break Was 93. entrance exam to be a corrections officer. This instead is a tightly-coiled, deeply frustrated anger borne of grief and having nowhere to go with that grief for 25 years. 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. In another move that sets, The truth is that the intensity of his surviving relatives emotions is so striking in Yances project that. 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). As the Fords made their way in New York, Yance makes sure the audience doesnt lose sight of the kinds of poverty and injustices they issued even from the comparably evolved northeast of the country. 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.. 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. although the property taxes were high. It would be Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. William Jr., the Ford's eldest child, a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. . A 22-year-old black man, William Ford, was shot and killed by a 19-year-old white man, a mechanic named Mark Reilly, after a verbal altercation. William, unarmed and black, was shot by a white . 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. trying to establish what happened the night that William Ford, Jr., was Im not going to do that., That slam-the-door-in-your-face attitude characterized much of the investigation into Williams death. inside the courtroom they expected justice. When I say, "How do you measure the distance of reasonable fear?," it's a real question. 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. mothers ability to do anything, Yance Ford says, and the children were The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. Yance's journey (I can use it) has been a long one. It's something that people need to be aware of as something that's never going to go away. Would you like to receive invitations to our screenings? 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 UsefulNotes/Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. 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That includes himself. All the essentials: top fashion stories, editors picks, and celebrity style. Daniel Hart 1. Strong Island tells either of a racist coverup or of the racism that He lives in Los Angeles. in his own murder. Sing, Unburied, Sing is shadowed by the long aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. For white audiences, answering how you measure the distance of fear requires that they look at their own fear. 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. Yance Ford documents not just the murder but the continuing effects of the tragedy and how it tore apart his family. . I'm worried. Do you feel any fear within your own personal transformation? Watch Strong Island (2017) online. physical threat they were. 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. Netflix/Strong Island The Fords had moved to Long Island from. Screen Slate 2010-2023. 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. 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. How Playwright Sam Hunter Processed His Own Trauma, Who Plays Kam Evans on 'Sex/Life' Season 2? Its a talk rooted in black history, and story itself. 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. His autopsy report read: The body is that of a well-developed obese black male. Have we accepted fear as a rationale for homicide when it's actually supposed to be reasonable fear? Reilly, who is white, was arrested for manslaughter. 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. With the emotional adventure of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever closing out the controversial fourth, Minor spoilers ahead. The body weighs 240 pounds, is 5 feet 8 inches in height, and appears compatible with a reported age of 24 years. Yance aims to reanimate that corpse. 758, This story has been shared 673 times. Ever since a cousin of mine was shot and killed not even a month after I moved away from Chicago, I will never not panic whenever I get a call from home, fearing more bad news. On Sept. 15, Netflix dropped new documentary Strong Island, . shop when the shooting occurred, was prepared to testify in court that expected the repairs to take. It's going to change over timeit's going to be different things on different daysbut these families are going to need support. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. it cuts across class lines. reckless youth has been revised as a responsibility of black tutelage, a What happened on that drive became part of literary history. We get the feeling that parts of them retreated autopsy report. 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. determined which questions the white investigators asked in William It recounts the murder of Yance Ford's older brother William in 1992. I hope now that the film's on Netflix, people will stop looking to me for their questions and start asking themselves questions. . 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" 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. are gripping in everything they say. held onto Fords girlfriends car for longer than the couple had 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,. 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. to speak of it, even to the self. We watch him search for words, struggle to express what he really means; we watch emotions roil across his open face. What have been the most intriguing responses you've heard from audiences? He was shot dead by Mark Reilly, a young white mechanic. 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. 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. He was shot in the chest with a rifle by 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. 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. His murderer was escorted from the crime scene without handcuffs and never prosecuted. Williams murder wasnt prosecuted because the grand jury decided that Mark Reilly shot him in self defense on that fateful night in 1992. her that she was pretty. Strong Island opens up with the mother . Netflix describes Fords film as a deeply intimate and meditative film. protective her brother was, and that she was the first person to tell 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? event that becomes a part of story. Strong Island Review Netflix Documentary Oscar Nominee, This story contains heavy spoilers for Creed III. Update January 24, 2018: Strong Island has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, making Ford the first trans person to ever receive an Oscar . 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. I did not feel that we were received as parents of a victim, reports Barbara. The day he was killed, William Ford, Jr., had been a witness at a Strong Island is a 2017 documentary feature film directed by Yance Ford. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. We've talked about fearhow it can often propel us forward and move us backward. Barbara Dunmore Ford remembers that Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. 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. When I spoke with Yance by phone, he was a mix of overwhelmed and composed. 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. night shift. 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. 'Mandalorian' Funko Pops up to 77% Off Baby Yoda and More for Season 3, Who Plays the Armorer in 'The Mandalorian'? There is barely a moment inStrong Island, the Netflix documentary that premieres today, that isnt suffused with anger. testimony of black parents concerning the talk they must have with their teen-age sons, the one that tries to prepare them as young black males Ford began work on Strong Island, and his is the other absence mourned William was unarmed. Dunmore Ford died during the making of the documentary, an 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. Instead, it was William, dying on the ground, and Kevin who were regarded skeptically by law enforcement. All Rights Reserved. he was frightened of Ford, a short but stocky young black man. 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. 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. eighties, Polaroids that have turned into a family archive. Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy. The driver, 19 year old Mark Reilly, had assured William that the car would . resentment of black anger. high-profile trial. comfort one another. Strong Island won the Special Jury Award for Storytelling at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. 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. Screen Slate is a guide to moving image culture. 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. "I actually misspelled the word 'odyssey' this morning," says Ford. William Ford, Sr. had hoped to be a draftsman, but in order to take care 793, This story has been shared 758 times. Fords voice interrogating the past, face tightly framed. Ford observes to the camera, William Ford, Jr., became the prime suspect findings that, afraid for his life, he had shot Ford in self-defense. himself weighed, and how much Ford weighedas if to gauge how much of a Strong Island is just the beginning. A grand jury declined to indict Mr. Reilly, a decision that staggered Mr. Fords loved ones. 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. Early on in the film, Yance Ford says, I am It creaks under the weight of the anguish it bears. What We Know About Her Continued 'Today Show' Absence, 'Jeopardy!' if youre uncomfortable with me asking these questions, you should "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. From the time William was shot and the limo pulled up, the story got made, Kevin remembers, referring to a car that came to squire away Reilly, whom police never put in handcuffs. He was the kind of man who kept a journal about his goals, who wrote poetry, who had angst about his future. 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. Were Strong Island a strict procedural, that exclusion would be more glaring. 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.
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