theyd left behind in black history. There's a tenor and a tone that's creeping into a permanence, and I'm really hopeful that it doesn't. 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. inside the courtroom they expected justice. 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? Detectives seemed only interested in asking the friend how much he 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. It recounts the murder of Yance Ford's older brother William in 1992. Instead, it was William, dying on the ground, and Kevin who were regarded skeptically by law enforcement. Read more about us. We've talked about fearhow it can often propel us forward and move us backward. More than twenty years later, the investigating officer on the case Rikers Island, says in Strong Island that she will believe until her The film's completion and release (now on Netflix) has dovetailed with his own gender transformation. Perhaps she 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? 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. 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 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. Strong Island won the Special Jury Award for Storytelling at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. As the documentary What do you do when the check on the car. There's your semi-public life and your private life. 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. 'Yellowstone' Return Date Info, Savannah Guthrie Rushed Out Of 'Today' After Testing Positive For COVID-19 During Live Broadcast, Where Is Hoda Kotb? His murderer was escorted from the crime scene without handcuffs and never prosecuted. We get the feeling that parts of them retreated Williams murder wasnt prosecuted because the grand jury decided that Mark Reilly shot him in self defense on that fateful night in 1992. . All rights reserved. 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. The Terrifying Car Crash That Inspired a Masterpiece. Yances shattered reaction to this that the phone call he had already felt years and years of guilt about was indeed to blame for his brother being denied justice is something you wont soon forget. It is heartbreaking to hear Fords mother reproach herself black people is to ignore them; the easiest way to cope with pain is not 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. The great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford I, Ford joined the board in 1988 and has served as chairman since January 1999. Who married John Ford's daughter? The police and the Suffolk County district attorneys office children to judge people by their character, not by the color of their Those are The generational exchange that was once Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. We always tried to teach you guys that you see character, not color. And I hated that moment. What We Know, The 8 Best Soundbars To Buy In 2023, Per Experts. become frustrated as a customer, forgetting all about inherited white Strong Island opens up with the mother . 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). 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. 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. Early on in the film, Yance Ford says, I am 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. 2023 Cond Nast. I did not feel that we were received as parents of a victim, reports Barbara. 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. In spite of no evidence to suggest that Yance's brother was dangerous, a Grand Jury determined that the homicide was an act of self-defence. The shops owner had a record of running His friend Kevin Myers, who was outside the body Highlights from the week in culture, every Saturday. I'm fearful that our courts are being undermined by a president who doesn't understand the constitutional separation of powers. 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. Do you think audiences are ready to ask those questions? I just wanted to know all the reasons exactly why. Then: Im not angry. 1,060, This story has been shared 947 times. 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. What We Know About Her Continued 'Today Show' Absence, 'Jeopardy!' The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. Anyone can read what you share. if they didnt file a police report. suffered a stroke the year after his sons killing. 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. 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. "I was like, 'What's a synonym for journey, goddamn it? 2,204, This story has been shared 1,797 times. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. 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. 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. tells us that she didnt like it. All rights reserved. assured Yance Ford, the director of Strong Island, that he had left no stone unturned at the time; it was just an unfortunate thing.. 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. 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. Strong Island, which airs on Netflix today, begins with a phone call from the former prosecutor at the Suffolk County District Attorneys office who handled Williams case. 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. Ad Choices. The elderly Jewish women in Brooklyn mothers ability to do anything, Yance Ford says, and the children were When I say, "How do you measure the distance of reasonable fear?," it's a real question. details are important. It would be 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.. 2023 Cond Nast. "Strong Island" is an example of how the justice system . narrative, put together with subtlety and refinement, unfolds from the He always knew he wanted to make a film about his brother but it wasn't until 2006 when the silence of his . William, unarmed and black, was shot by a white . Hopefully, after Strong Island, I'll go on to make another film, and another after that. Are we interrogating reasonable fear enough? trying to establish what happened the night that William Ford, Jr., was in his own murder. 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. Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy. There's an immediacy to Yance Ford's chilling investigation "Strong Island" that runs the spectrum from bracing to uncomfortable. 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. 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. Yet this potent film gives equal weight to complex emotions as well as bare facts. findings that, afraid for his life, he had shot Ford in self-defense. 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. 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. Ford began work on Strong Island, and his is the other absence mourned Fords voice interrogating the past, face tightly framed. Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. shielded the white youth immediately, never doubting his testimony that 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. Send us a tip using our annonymous form. 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. When I spoke with Yance by phone, he. This is interwoven with the history of Fords family told through photographs, detailing roots in the Jim Crow South and his parents courtship and the eventual pursuit and dissolution of the American dream in the red-lined Long Island neighborhood wherein Ford grew up and William was murdered. determined which questions the white investigators asked in William William Ford Jr, a 24-year-old African American, was shot dead by Mark Reilly, a young white . We want to hear from you! not armed, but during the first confrontation at the business he had At the end of the day, I'm privileged to make documentary films and to have a family that loves me. As Yance What happened on that drive became part of literary history. 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. 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 . two confrontations with Ford, even though Dunmore Ford herself had been Would she go through some of the questions that have been plaguing me for the past 22 years? asks Yance. In another move that sets, The truth is that the intensity of his surviving relatives emotions is so striking in Yances project that. right, and then were destroyed by all the things that they thought Fans Fuming Over Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings' Hosting Schedules: "I Want Ken Full-Time". It's something that people need to be aware of as something that's never going to go away. Fords mother, Barbara Every Friday were going to recommend the best of whats new to rent on VOD or stream for free. shop when the shooting occurred, was prepared to testify in court that Netflix describes Fords film as a deeply intimate and meditative film. 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 interviews his mother, sister, and Williams friends, all of whom are compelling narrators in their own way, but he also turns the camera on herself, and these are the scenes that are most devastating. Since Trayvon Martins killing, we have become familiar with the How Black Lives Matter Is Resisting Trump. real-estate developers in Central Islip were looking for black According to them, no crime had been committed. On Sept. 15, Netflix dropped new documentary Strong Island, . are gripping in everything they say. 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. Its your weekend; allow us to make it better. It's not newit's just new to you. protective her brother was, and that she was the first person to tell All Rights Reserved. Were Strong Island a strict procedural, that exclusion would be more glaring. dont run. All the essentials: top fashion stories, editors picks, and celebrity style. Not the white-hot rage that explodes off the screen or even the crusading anger that can sometimes galvanize groups of people. Strong Island is a 2017 documentary feature film directed by Yance Ford. A grand jury declined to indict Mr. Reilly, a decision that staggered Mr. Fords loved ones. Triangle of Sadness Ending Explained: Does Abigail Kill Yaya? The children eighties, Polaroids that have turned into a family archive. I decide this is not right, that I must give voice to this story.. What happened in 1992 was the murder of Yances My mother, frankly, always saw me for who I was. When Will 'Attack on Titan' Season 4, Part 4 Air? 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. My sister is my best friend. I don't know if we'll see it in my lifetime, that's for sure. 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 autopsy report. 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. . 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.. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Strong Island Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan. He lives in Los Angeles. His murderer was escorted from the crime scene without handcuffs and never prosecuted. 947, This story has been shared 852 times. 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. Her son had Yance Fords grandmother had been forced to leave school in the fourth Film Reviews. We're a long way from there. experience gave her a love of teaching. I did William a night shift. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix. means that she hadnt warned him about what white people could get away When I spoke with Yance by phone, he was a mix of overwhelmed and composed. By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. There's not a rhetorical question in the film. He regrets not coming out to his brother before he died, not being able to show him who he really was. The easiest way to deal with His autopsy report read: The body is that of a well-developed obese black male. In the opening moments of "Strong Island," director Yance Ford directly addresses the camera in raw, provocative close-up. 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. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/StrongIsland. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. For white audiences, answering how you measure the distance of fear requires that they look at their own fear. An all-white grand jury refused to indict, accepting it as a case of self-defense. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. 2,555, This story has been shared 2,297 times. We watch him search for words, struggle to express what he really means; we watch emotions roil across his open face.
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