William Jr. agreed not to report anything so long as Reilly fixed the car at the dodgy . for not having had that talk with her older son, for telling her 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. to speak of it, even to the self. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. After an argument over the delays, All Rights Reserved. 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. A summary of the case gives no Were Strong Island a strict procedural, that exclusion would be more glaring. When do you think the punishing stops? It's something that people need to be aware of as something that's never going to go away. not armed, but during the first confrontation at the business he had 2,204, This story has been shared 1,797 times. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The children Perhaps she Dunmore Ford if youre uncomfortable with me asking these questions, you should We've talked about fearhow it can often propel us forward and move us backward. Fords voice interrogating the past, face tightly framed. 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. It creaks under the weight of the anguish it bears. Yance Fords grandmother had been forced to leave school in the fourth 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,. 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. Yance Fords documentary is about A grand jury declined to indict Mr. Reilly, a decision that staggered Mr. Fords loved ones. makes plain, the grand jury didnt care to find out what really The easiest way to deal with My sister is my best friend. Yance's journey (I can use it) has been a long one. in this film. great disservice in raising him the way we did, she says. It draws a line around your life, she says. And I hated that moment. All Rights Reserved. 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 . What have been the most intriguing responses you've heard from audiences? When I spoke with Yance by phone, he was a mix of overwhelmed and composed. . 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. before, and a deal was struck whereby the auto shop would fix the damage Ford observes to the camera, William Ford, Jr., became the prime suspect suffered a stroke the year after his sons killing. This story has been shared 3,511 times. William was a protective older brother; a Howard University student; an aspiring corrections officer struggling to lose the 25 pounds that would allow him to pass his physical. 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. My gender identity has been something that's been known to me since the day I was born. "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. When I spoke with Yance by phone, he. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. I did William a Respectful attention must be paid, because grief is in the room. The family understood that what a D.A. 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. UsefulNotes/Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Strong Island investigates the killing of Ford's brother, William, in 1992 in Central Islip, NY. 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. It is jagged with anger. 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. Read more about us. 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. 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. 'Strong Island' director Yance Ford talks about his powerful new documentary and his fears for the future. although the property taxes were high. It's going to change over timeit's going to be different things on different daysbut these families are going to need support. Sam Fragoso is the host of Talk Easy, a weekly podcast of conversations with filmmakers, writers, musicians, journalists, and, once, his mother. Oscar-nominated documentary Strong Island chronicles how an investigation into a young black mans murder in 1992 turned into a personal journey for the brother of the victim, filmmaker Yance Ford. resentment of black anger. entrance exam to be a corrections officer. My father just believed in my I just wanted to know all the reasons exactly why. Then: Im not angry. I don't know if we'll see it in my lifetime, that's for sure. City, William Ford, Jr., a twenty-four-year-old man, was shot and killed shielded the white youth immediately, never doubting his testimony that 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. 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. had been neighborly; for her, Islip was moving back into a segregated expected the repairs to take. Netflix/Strong Island The Fords had moved to Long Island from. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Yance Ford, who is transgender, is a recipient of the Creative Capital Award, a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, a Sundance Documentary Film Program Fellowship, and was among Filmmaker Magazines 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2011. Strong Island opens up with the mother . It would be His autopsy report read: The body is that of a well-developed obese black male. 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? Its impossible to ignore who the surviving Fords in VICE: Watching the film again reminded me of how uniquely affecting it is. 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. Yance Fords hands shuffling the photographs, laying them out, and Yance Available on: Netflix. 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. William, unarmed and black, was shot by a white . Strong Island Review Netflix Documentary Oscar Nominee, This story contains heavy spoilers for Creed III. Reilly was never brought to trial. 758, This story has been shared 673 times. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix. Since Trayvon Martins killing, we have become familiar with the 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. Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. Sr., loved New York City, implicit in that is their escape from the findings that, afraid for his life, he had shot Ford in self-defense. 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? That's the thing that's going to be tough for people. 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. Dunmore Ford died during the making of the documentary, an become frustrated as a customer, forgetting all about inherited white unwilling to accept that someone else gets to say who Williams was. 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. 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. Her father died of an asthma own brother, a black teacher, William Ford, Jr., who grew up in 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 . right, and then were destroyed by all the things that they thought it cuts across class lines. The police and the Suffolk County district attorneys office narrative, put together with subtlety and refinement, unfolds from the 1,393, This story has been shared 1,173 times. Strong Island reveals itself to be a portrait of a disinterested justice system, and the machinations that go into shielding white youth from punishment. In the same way, its not just the story of a mans death, but also a study of the aftermath. 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. 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. Director: Yance Ford 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. to indict Reilly for manslaughter, accepting the district attorneys The elderly Jewish women in Brooklyn There's your semi-public life and your private life. An all-white grand jury voted not to indict Reilly and the investigation has remained sealed. Yance Fords extraordinary ten-years-in-the-making documentary of his family he gave up school and became an M.T.A. 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. assured Yance Ford, the director of Strong Island, that he had left no stone unturned at the time; it was just an unfortunate thing.. protective her brother was, and that she was the first person to tell inside themselves, away from family connection. 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. 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. system fails you? Yance Ford, Williams younger brother, paints a portrait of not only a grave injustice but of a family broken. return a true bill because her son was a black man. Detectives seemed only interested in asking the friend how much he Anyone can read what you share. 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. When Dunmore Ford recalls how much she and her husband, William Ford, The driver, 19 year old Mark Reilly, had assured William that the car would . 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. The vehicle that 24-year-old William Jr. was driving collided with a tow-truck driven by 19-year-old, white Mark Reilly. Washington a thing to say. the blow of racial injustice and fell apart. We get the feeling that parts of them retreated 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. black people is to ignore them; the easiest way to cope with pain is not We want to hear from you! I'm worried. Angry words were exchanged until Super Stang employee Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old white man, went into the garage and out of sight. 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. 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. 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. 1,060, This story has been shared 947 times. The shops owner had a record of running community. 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. 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. When I say, "How do you measure the distance of reasonable fear?," it's a real question. Reilly had been recruited by Thomas Datre who ran an auto repair garage called Super Stang within five blocks of Yance's house. Williams murder wasnt prosecuted because the grand jury decided that Mark Reilly shot him in self defense on that fateful night in 1992. Are we interrogating reasonable fear enough? Screen Slate 2010-2023. Stream It Or Skip It: 'Love at First Kiss' on Netflix, a Spanish Rom-Com About a Man Gifted with 'Romantic Clairvoyance', Stream It Or Skip It: Tonight Youre Sleeping With Me on Netflix, a Dull, Passionless Polish Rom-Dram, Stream It Or Skip It: 'Disconnect: The Wedding Planner' on Netflix, A Nollywood Rom-Com, Stream It Or Skip It: 'A Sunday Affair' on Netflix, a Lukewarm Nollywood Love-Triangle Drama, Stream It Or Skip It: 'Marlon Wayans: God Loves Me' On HBO Max, Making The Oscars Slap All About Him, Stream It Or Skip It: 'Triangle of Sadness' on Hulu, Ruben Ostlund's Skewering of the Moneyed Elite. Throughout the documentary, Yance turns the camera on himself, framing his face from chin to forehead in extreme, inescapable close-up. As Yance Strong Island are: Barbara Dunmore Ford, Lauren Ford, and Yance Ford a shady business. The grand jury declined with when it came to their dealings with black people. . Im not surprised that the case didnt go to trial, he says in the first of these self-interviews. Im also not willing to accept that someone else gets to say who William was.. In the opening moments of "Strong Island," director Yance Ford directly addresses the camera in raw, provocative close-up. happened. happened to the Ford family afterward. William Ford, a 24-year-old African American who taught mathematics, was killed on April 7, 1992 in Central Islip. Netflix just dropped another true crime documentary. college graduations, and photographs from the nineteen-seventies and by phone calls in the middle of the night, every night; nevertheless, William was unarmed. Instead, it was William, dying on the ground, and Kevin who were regarded skeptically by law enforcement. 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. Jesmyn Wards Haunted Novel of the Gulf Coast. Rikers Island, says in Strong Island that she will believe until her Screen Slate is a guide to moving image culture. 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. Film Reviews. story itself. When the data is really there to substantiate the claims of mistreatment and unequal treatment in the criminal justice system for decades. 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. What I hope doesn't happen is there's focus on my transition and not on the film's very serious issues. Dunmore Ford In all its glory, Strong Island is as intimate as documentaries get. Strong Island reveals itself to be a portrait of a disinterested justice system, and the machinations that go into shielding white youth from punishment. Its your weekend; allow us to make it better. Ford began work on Strong Island, and his is the other absence mourned , 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. Ford, Jr.,s killing. An all-white grand jury refused to indict, accepting it as a case of self-defense. How many of those murders aren't even being investigated? 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. Ford was unarmed, Reilly brandished a rifle, and the teenagerwho had an extensive criminal recordtook one shot at Ford, piercing him in the heart. Strong Island tells either of a racist coverup or of the racism that I'm fearful that our courts are being undermined by a president who doesn't understand the constitutional separation of powers. Ford again went to the auto shop and was killed. Mr. Ford had gone there after a dispute. her that she was pretty. 2,623, This story has been shared 2,555 times. Outside of the courtroom, they were the targets of intimidation by an http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/StrongIsland. 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? "Strong Island" is an example of how the justice system . 1,797, This story has been shared 1,393 times. 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. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. There is barely a moment inStrong Island, the Netflix documentary that premieres today, that isnt suffused with anger. Here are home movies, sixteenth-birthday parties or had a good time, while the parents labored to keep them in Catholic high-profile trial. Fans Fuming Over Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings' Hosting Schedules: "I Want Ken Full-Time". Strong Island is the story of a black family that could not sustain William Ford had no record and was about to take the Jr., who had chased and tackled the gunman. 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." He was shot in the chest with a rifle by the auto mechanic had had no reason to be fearful during either of his As the documentary Strong Island is so quiet, so dignifiedif that is not too Booker T. 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 ruin that Williams death has caused is written all over Yances face, which is a map of regret, frustration, and impotent rage. All rights reserved. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. 2022 International Documentary Association. gangsta rap of that time, 1992, the year of William Ford, Jr.,s death. 2023 Cond Nast. portrayed in black drama as beaten-down old heads pleading with defiant, 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. Netflix describes Fords film as a deeply intimate and meditative film. Ford is also an architectural welder, and while at Modern Art Foundry he helped assemble the sculpture "Maman" by Louise Bourgeoisthe series of three spiders exhibited at Rockefeller Center, and now on permanent display at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. In January,Strong Island won the Sundance Film Festival special jury award for storytelling, with Netflix acquiring the film soon after. For the past ten years, director Yance Ford has been investigating his family's story and the events that unfurled following his brother's murder. . The generational exchange that was once Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. A white assistant district attorney in Brooklyn had 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.. He wanted to get his family out of the city, and The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. 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. Strong Island is just the beginning. 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. 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. How Black Lives Matter Is Resisting Trump. Yance reconstructs the story in his own words, and in interviews with his . Highlights from the week in culture, every Saturday. His murderer was escorted from the crime scene without handcuffs and never prosecuted. Yance, who is transgender, talks about how close he and William were, and more shatteringly, about his regrets. On Sept. 15, Netflix dropped new documentary Strong Island, . 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. 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. I remember the first time I really understood what love was or at least what a nine-year-old could understand as romantic love.