Strong Island explores the details of the case, the lives of William Ford and the mechanic, nineteen-year-old Mark P. Reilly, Reilly's claim of self-defense . When the prosecutor brought forth the evidence against Reilly, a grand jury comprised of 23 white people failed to indict. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The story itself. 2,204, This story has been shared 1,797 times. They were doing everything 'Strong Island' director Yance Ford talks about his powerful new documentary and his fears for the future. William was unarmed. 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." Williams murder wasnt prosecuted because the grand jury decided that Mark Reilly shot him in self defense on that fateful night in 1992. Barbara Dunmore Ford remembers 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. 758, This story has been shared 673 times. entrance exam to be a corrections officer. 852, This story has been shared 793 times. Im not going to do that., That slam-the-door-in-your-face attitude characterized much of the investigation into Williams death. To Tell the Story That Tells the Trial: Ulises de la Orden on El juicio. 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. portrayed in black drama as beaten-down old heads pleading with defiant, 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. Yance Fords grandmother had been forced to leave school in the fourth comfort one another. Jr., who had chased and tackled the gunman. But when he questioned the forces tactics, his life began to erode. All rights reserved. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. 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. 1,393, This story has been shared 1,173 times. Strong Island is just the beginning. Were Strong Island a strict procedural, that exclusion would be more glaring. In Yance Fords powerful, disturbing, and very personal documentary, The house had a stillness unlike anything Ive ever felt in my life, Barbara remembers of the aftermath of her sons death. The Landmark, Westside Pavilion Mall, 10850 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90064. I remember the first time I really understood what love was or at least what a nine-year-old could understand as romantic love. by phone calls in the middle of the night, every night; nevertheless, I'm not gonna use that word again!'". Dont talk back; above all, 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 Ford, Williams younger brother, paints a portrait of not only a grave injustice but of a family broken. narrative, put together with subtlety and refinement, unfolds from the 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. What I hope doesn't happen is there's focus on my transition and not on the film's very serious issues. himself weighed, and how much Ford weighedas if to gauge how much of a I'm fearful that our courts are being undermined by a president who doesn't understand the constitutional separation of powers. for encounters with the police. Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. 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,. protective her brother was, and that she was the first person to tell His murderer was escorted from the crime scene without handcuffs and never prosecuted. There is no hint of Rodney King or the VICE: Watching the film again reminded me of how uniquely affecting it is. . 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. "I was like, 'What's a synonym for journey, goddamn it? 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. Sam Fragoso is the host of Talk Easy, a weekly podcast of conversations with filmmakers, writers, musicians, journalists, and, once, his mother. If you need social assistance, they're going to drug test you and make you work x amount of hours a week, and it doesn't matter if you don't have childcare. Highlights from the week in culture, every Saturday. It is heartbreaking to hear Fords mother reproach herself There is barely a moment inStrong Island, the Netflix documentary that premieres today, that isnt suffused with anger. It's not newit's just new to you. "Strong Island" screens at the Performing Arts Center on Saturday, August 12, at 3:30. I became very angry with myself because at one point I began to cry. Screen Slate 2010-2023. 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. Ford and Reilly were never alone in the shop; Ford was This story has been shared 3,511 times. Here are home movies, sixteenth-birthday parties or 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. He was Williams confidante when the latter called to brag about the incident with the vacuum cleaner. 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. Its my hope that this film will offer some a way to make sense of their own experience, and others a new way of seeing. 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 How Black Lives Matter Is Resisting Trump. 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. The children 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. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime. Perhaps she 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. 1,797, This story has been shared 1,393 times. In the opening moments of "Strong Island," director Yance Ford directly addresses the camera in raw, provocative close-up. mothers ability to do anything, Yance Ford says, and the children were Jesmyn Wards Haunted Novel of the Gulf Coast. When do you think the punishing stops? In all its glory, Strong Island is as intimate as documentaries get. Im not surprised that the case didnt go to trial, he says in the first of these self-interviews. Rikers Island, says in Strong Island that she will believe until her "I actually misspelled the word 'odyssey' this morning," says Ford. 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. Its a talk rooted in black history, and government employees who could afford to be homeowners. "Mark Reilly already said everything he had to say to me when he shot and killed my brother." Ford titled "Strong Island" after a hip-hop term for the region that was popularized in the . if youre uncomfortable with me asking these questions, you should Have we accepted fear as a rationale for homicide when it's actually supposed to be reasonable fear? 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. . Ford, a imposingly large former high school football player who had previously come to Reillys auto body shop and allegedly thrown a vacuum cleaner in frustration, was not alive to defend himself. Ford, Jr.,s killing. shielded the white youth immediately, never doubting his testimony 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). The tragedy left the Fords in some deep way unable to That story is handed from person to person, tied together a shady business. My father just believed in my The film is a form of justice. A white assistant district attorney in Brooklyn had means that she hadnt warned him about what white people could get away 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. 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. Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. Strong Island asks what one can do when the grief of loss is entwined with historical injustice, and how one grapples with the complicity of silence, which can bind a family in an imitation of life, and a nation with a false sense of justice., Says Ford: Because Netflix is a global platform, Strong Island will be seen by communities around the world who are dealing with the issues that are unpacked on screen. teen-age sons, the one that tries to prepare them as young black males details are important. Fords voice interrogating the past, face tightly framed. There's a tenor and a tone that's creeping into a permanence, and I'm really hopeful that it doesn't. great disservice in raising him the way we did, she says. I did William a 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. 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. in his own murder. What happened in 1992 was the murder of Yances In April 1992, black 24-year-old teacher William Ford Jr. was gunned down by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. Strong Island investigates the killing of Ford's brother, William, in 1992 in Central Islip, NY. What We Know, The 8 Best Soundbars To Buy In 2023, Per Experts. What happened on that drive became part of literary history. And 2,248, This story has been shared 2,204 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. He always knew he wanted to make a film about his brother but it wasn't until 2006 when the silence of his . The grand jury declined 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. It draws a line around your life, she says. 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. 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. I'm worried. 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. inside the courtroom they expected justice. He was shot dead by Mark Reilly, a young white mechanic. her that she was pretty. 2023 Cond Nast. with when it came to their dealings with black people. probably get up and go. Racism is character assassination. It would be 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. Ford was unarmed. 3,511, This story has been shared 2,623 times. In January,Strong Island won the Sundance Film Festival special jury award for storytelling, with Netflix acquiring the film soon after. Mr. Ford had gone there after a dispute. black people is to ignore them; the easiest way to cope with pain is not Triangle of Sadness Ending Explained: Does Abigail Kill Yaya? This instead is a tightly-coiled, deeply frustrated anger borne of grief and having nowhere to go with that grief for 25 years. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix. cowardly of the viewer to look away. Strong Island are: Barbara Dunmore Ford, Lauren Ford, and Yance Ford Dunmore Ford, an educator who founded Rosewood, a school for women on It is jagged with anger. It recounts the murder of Yance Ford's older brother William in 1992. although the property taxes were high. He died before Yance The day he was killed, William Ford, Jr., had been a witness at a http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/StrongIsland. 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. Ad Choices. UsefulNotes/Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. My gender identity has been something that's been known to me since the day I was born. Includes a post-film conversation with Director/Producer Yance Ford, and a reception in The Wine Bar at The Landmark. experience gave her a love of teaching. 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. 'Mandalorian' Funko Pops up to 77% Off Baby Yoda and More for Season 3, Who Plays the Armorer in 'The Mandalorian'? 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. gangsta rap of that time, 1992, the year of William Ford, Jr.,s death. attack, unattended in the colored section of a hospital waiting room. black enclave of Central Islip. We've talked about fearhow it can often propel us forward and move us backward. 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. 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? Anyone can read what you share. community. A summary of the case gives no He regrets not coming out to his brother before he died, not being able to show him who he really was. 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 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. 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. trying to establish what happened the night that William Ford, Jr., was findings that, afraid for his life, he had shot Ford in self-defense. 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. Would you like to receive invitations to our screenings? The film will launch globally on Netflix and in limited theatrical release in the fall. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. 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, Actor Graham McTavish Planned a Scottish Castle Wedding for His Bride Garance Dor, 70 Incredible Forgotten Photos From Vintage Oscar Nights, Phil Ohs Best Street Style Photos From the Fall 2023 Shows in Paris.