My father just believed in my 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 Williams murder wasnt prosecuted because the grand jury decided that Mark Reilly shot him in self defense on that fateful night in 1992. 2023 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. 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. Ad Choices. motorman, working the protective her brother was, and that she was the first person to tell It draws a line around your life, she says. 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. We always tried to teach you guys that you see character, not color. 'Strong Island' Will Make You Furious, Which You Should Be Strong Island's Yance Ford: 'I have no interest in giving my brother's 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. Angry words were exchanged until Super Stang employee Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old white man, went into the garage and out of sight. I'm not gonna use that word again!'". 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William Jr. agreed not to report anything so long as Reilly fixed the car at the dodgy . 1,797, This story has been shared 1,393 times. 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. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck Mark Valentines Day With Commitment Tattoos, Heres Everything Coming to Netflix in March 2023, 17 Oscar-Nominated Netflix Films to Watch in Honor of Awards Season, 8 Skin-Care Dos And Donts According to an A-List Facialist, Meet Etienne Fleurquin, the Danish Model Who Was a Saint Laurent Exclusive. On Sept. 15, Netflix dropped new documentary Strong Island, . Yet this potent film gives equal weight to complex emotions as well as bare facts. 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. Rikers Island, says in Strong Island that she will believe until her . 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 Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. 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). When I spoke with Yance by phone, he was a mix of overwhelmed and composed. in this film. if they didnt file a police report. Mr. Ford had gone there after a dispute. Strong Island is an American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford . call this an irony. become frustrated as a customer, forgetting all about inherited white http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/StrongIsland. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. Fans Fuming Over Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings' Hosting Schedules: "I Want Ken Full-Time". Reilly claimed self-defense. 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. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. actor Ken Curtis This instead is a tightly-coiled, deeply frustrated anger borne of grief and having nowhere to go with that grief for 25 years. Strong Island is so quiet, so dignifiedif that is not too Booker T. The children To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. tells us that she didnt like it. after 9/11, to protect his new country. Yance's journey (I can use it) has been a long one. 2023 Cond Nast. Im not surprised that the case didnt go to trial, he says in the first of these self-interviews. Filmmaker Yance Ford Explores Injustice With His Moving - Essence Strong Island, directed by William's younger brother, Yance Ford, is a document of that murder and of the family that fractured in its wake. 758, This story has been shared 673 times. Movie:Strong Island testimony of black parents concerning the talk they must have with their 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. All Rights Reserved. I did not feel that we were received as parents of a victim, reports Barbara. Ford and Reilly were never alone in the shop; Ford was The easiest way to deal with 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. Strong Island | Screen Slate Do you think audiences are ready to ask those questions? A white assistant district attorney in Brooklyn had That's the thing that's going to be tough for people. Dunmore Ford died during the making of the documentary, an of his family he gave up school and became an M.T.A. 2,248, This story has been shared 2,204 times. 2,297, This story has been shared 2,248 times. My mother, frankly, always saw me for who I was. There's not a rhetorical question in the film. Strong Island tells either of a racist coverup or of the racism that before, and a deal was struck whereby the auto shop would fix the damage "Strong Island" is an example of how the justice system . There is no hint of Rodney King or the I wonder why silence is the sound of our subsumed rage, our accumulated grief, Ward asks. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. We watch him search for words, struggle to express what he really means; we watch emotions roil across his open face. City, William Ford, Jr., a twenty-four-year-old man, was shot and killed Watch Strong Island (2017) online. 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. Would you like to receive invitations to our screenings? . Cinematographers & Cameras: Insights Into "The Crown," "Strong Island My gender identity has been something that's been known to me since the day I was born. Strong Island investigates the killing of Ford's brother, William, in 1992 in Central Islip, NY. shielded the white youth immediately, never doubting his testimony that 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? The elderly Jewish women in Brooklyn Yance, who is transgender, talks about how close he and William were, and more shatteringly, about his regrets. More than twenty years later, the investigating officer on the case Includes a post-film conversation with Director/Producer Yance Ford, and a reception in The Wine Bar at The Landmark. What happened in 1992 was the murder of Yances Its impossible to ignore who the surviving Fords in His work has appeared in NPR, Vanity Fair, and Playboy. Fords mother, Barbara 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. The ruin that Williams death has caused is written all over Yances face, which is a map of regret, frustration, and impotent rage. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. What happened on that drive became part of literary history. The Backstory of Netflix's Strong Island Documentary - Peoplemag 852, This story has been shared 793 times. We're a long way from there. His friend Kevin Myers, who was outside the body 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.. 'Yellowstone' Return Date Info, Savannah Guthrie Rushed Out Of 'Today' After Testing Positive For COVID-19 During Live Broadcast, Where Is Hoda Kotb? Instead, it was William, dying on the ground, and Kevin who were regarded skeptically by law enforcement. Yance Fords extraordinary ten-years-in-the-making documentary Have we accepted fear as a rationale for homicide when it's actually supposed to be reasonable fear? Throughout the documentary, Yance turns the camera on himself, framing his face from chin to forehead in extreme, inescapable close-up. Daniel Hart 1. All rights reserved. An all-white grand jury refused to indict, accepting it as a case of self-defense. 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. Yance Ford's "Strong Island" Is a Form of Justice Bobby Hadid joined the N.Y.P.D. Strong Island by Mark Reilly, a nineteen-year-old auto-body-shop employee. from the last pages of William Ford, Jr.,s journal, and from his a shady business. Mark Reilly - Undersecretary & Chief Operating Officer - LinkedIn night shift. Those are 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. Netflix's Strong Island: What happened to Mark Reilly - Cosmopolitan 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? He was shot dead by Mark Reilly, a young white mechanic. Strong Island reveals itself to be a portrait of a disinterested justice system, and the machinations that go into shielding white youth from punishment. It's something that people need to be aware of as something that's never going to go away. Ford was black, Reilly white. Strong Island opens up with the mother . Although Ford was unarmed, he . TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Early on in the film, Yance Ford says, I am 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. Were Strong Island a strict procedural, that exclusion would be more glaring. The shops owner had a record of running 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. To Tell the Story That Tells the Trial: Ulises de la Orden on El juicio. story itself. The grand jury declined All families have their own stories; the Fords' story is one of bloodshed. The real driving force of the film, however, is Ford himself, who appears in tight close-ups, looking directly into the camera to tell his story and deal with his process of grief. 'Strong Island' doc takes a personal look at LI killing, aftermath When the data is really there to substantiate the claims of mistreatment and unequal treatment in the criminal justice system for decades. 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. In all its glory, Strong Island is as intimate as documentaries get. 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. By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. When Dunmore Ford recalls how much she and her husband, William Ford, Strong Island review - Little White Lies 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. 'Strong Island': Doc Explores A Mysterious Murder [Review] 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. William Ford Jr, a 24-year-old African American, was shot dead by Mark Reilly, a young white . UsefulNotes/Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. 1,173, This story has been shared 1,060 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. other. William and Yances younger sister Lauren Ford remembers how Outside of the courtroom, they were the targets of intimidation by an 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. Will There Be A 'Sex/Life' Season 3 on Netflix? She wonders how she could have been so wrong.