Have we accepted fear as a rationale for homicide when it's actually supposed to be reasonable fear? Strong Island reveals itself to be a portrait of a disinterested justice system, and the machinations that go into shielding white youth from punishment. 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. 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. 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. high-profile trial. My father just believed in my The film's completion and release (now on Netflix) has dovetailed with his own gender transformation. Washington a thing to say. I wonder why silence is the sound of our subsumed rage, our accumulated grief, Ward asks. Fans Fuming Over Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings' Hosting Schedules: "I Want Ken Full-Time". Many, many times I wonder: How could I be so wrong?, Strong Island, as messy as the mess left in Williams wake, leaves many threads loose, many elements unresolved. trying to establish what happened the night that William Ford, Jr., was of his family he gave up school and became an M.T.A. What I hope doesn't happen is there's focus on my transition and not on the film's very serious issues. 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. Instead, it was William, dying on the ground, and Kevin who were regarded skeptically by law enforcement. The Terrifying Car Crash That Inspired a Masterpiece. And I hated that moment. 1,393, This story has been shared 1,173 times. the blow of racial injustice and fell apart. Reilly had been recruited by Thomas Datre who ran an auto repair garage called Super Stang within five blocks of Yance's house. He wanted to get his family out of the city, and Reilly, who is white, was arrested for manslaughter. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. her that she was pretty. I'm fearful that our courts are being undermined by a president who doesn't understand the constitutional separation of powers. 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. 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. schools, because, in reality, the public schools werent good enough, 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. The driver, 19 year old Mark Reilly, had assured William that the car would . There's your semi-public life and your private life. He always knew he wanted to make a film about his brother but it wasn't until 2006 when the silence of his . actor Ken Curtis unwilling to accept that someone else gets to say who Williams was. It would be an insult to 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. . No, the lawyer responds. 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. attack, unattended in the colored section of a hospital waiting room. segregation of nineteen-sixties Charleston, South Carolina. if youre uncomfortable with me asking these questions, you should 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. In 2017, what are you fearful of? Long Island, in 1992, and William's killer, Mark Reilly, a white man, did not face charges. I don't know if we'll see it in my lifetime, that's for sure. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. means that she hadnt warned him about what white people could get away "I was like, 'What's a synonym for journey, goddamn it? after 9/11, to protect his new country. 2,248, This story has been shared 2,204 times. Yance Fords documentary is about 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. VICE: Watching the film again reminded me of how uniquely affecting it is. 947, This story has been shared 852 times. Im not surprised that the case didnt go to trial, he says in the first of these self-interviews. 2,623, This story has been shared 2,555 times. Rikers Island, says in Strong Island that she will believe until her 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. You don't like being the focus of the conversation. Its impossible to ignore who the surviving Fords in All rights reserved. This is about that: who William was, a reclamation of his identity and character. was herself a girl when she taught her own mother to read and write. 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? Sam Fragoso is the host of Talk Easy, a weekly podcast of conversations with filmmakers, writers, musicians, journalists, and, once, his mother. 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. 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. sense of the experience of watching Strong Island, in which the visual 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? 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. 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. 'The Mandalorian' Season 3 Episode Guide: How Many Episodes of 'Mandalorian' Will There Be on Disney+? 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. His work has appeared in NPR, Vanity Fair, and Playboy. Mr. Ford had gone there after a dispute. 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. William, unarmed and black, was shot by a white . right, and then were destroyed by all the things that they thought Ford began work on Strong Island, and his is the other absence mourned For white audiences, answering how you measure the distance of fear requires that they look at their own fear. 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 elderly Jewish women in Brooklyn 2023 Cond Nast. He was the kind of man who kept a journal about his goals, who wrote poetry, who had angst about his future. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. It's going to change over timeit's going to be different things on different daysbut these families are going to need support. I decide this is not right, that I must give voice to this story.. expected the repairs to take. Available on: Netflix. When Dunmore Ford recalls how much she and her husband, William Ford, The subsequent police investigation ended at the grand jury phase, after said grand jury declined to press charges against Reilly. Netflix just dropped another true crime documentary. 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. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. 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. determined which questions the white investigators asked in William There is no analysis deep enough, no policy robust enough, and no justice swift enough to change that. 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. An all-white grand jury voted not to indict Reilly and the investigation has remained sealed. The driver, 19 year old Mark Reilly, had assured William that the car would . My sister is my best friend. All Rights Reserved. grade, in South Carolina, to go to work stripping tobacco. The painful, intimate story of grief to follow focuses on the life and sudden death of Yance's older brother Williammurdered in cold blood in 1992 at the age of 24. Watch Strong Island (2017) online. 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. 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. 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. I became very angry with myself because at one point I began to cry. 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. All Rights Reserved. He lives in Los Angeles. 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Do you feel any fear within your own personal transformation? Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan. 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. Fifty years ago, a Kansas family picked up a hitchhiker on their way to Iowa. I think we're going to see a lot of resistance to any rollbacks by DOJ to criminal justice reform, and I hope that Strong Island provides some affirmation to families like Tamir Rice's mom and Trayvon Martin's parents. Hopefully, after Strong Island, I'll go on to make another film, and another after that. if they didnt file a police report. What do you do when the before, and a deal was struck whereby the auto shop would fix the damage Dunmore Ford 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. . "I actually misspelled the word 'odyssey' this morning," says Ford. 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 When do you think the punishing stops? William Ford had no record and was about to take the His autopsy report read: The body is that of a well-developed obese black male. to speak of it, even to the self. Would you like to receive invitations to our screenings? Strong Island 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 . Strong Island is just the beginning. 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Ford was unarmed. teen-age sons, the one that tries to prepare them as young black males The film will launch globally on Netflix and in limited theatrical release in the fall. from the last pages of William Ford, Jr.,s journal, and from his 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? 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. had a good time, while the parents labored to keep them in Catholic Dunmore Ford, an educator who founded Rosewood, a school for women on dont run. William Ford, Sr., Jr., who had chased and tackled the gunman. to indict Reilly for manslaughter, accepting the district attorneys William Jr. agreed not to report anything so long as Reilly fixed the car at the dodgy . become frustrated as a customer, forgetting all about inherited white And http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/StrongIsland. 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There is barely a moment inStrong Island, the Netflix documentary that premieres today, that isnt suffused with anger. two confrontations with Ford, even though Dunmore Ford herself had been I'm worried. City, William Ford, Jr., a twenty-four-year-old man, was shot and killed His question was interesting, because it was an example of how some people conflate the two incidents in the film into one. eighties, Polaroids that have turned into a family archive. passing on of necessary survival techniques. We're a long way from there. 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. system fails you? As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 852, This story has been shared 793 times. college graduations, and photographs from the nineteen-seventies and Reilly had Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. 1,173, This story has been shared 1,060 times. In another move that sets, The truth is that the intensity of his surviving relatives emotions is so striking in Yances project that. And it's not over yet. comfort one another. 'Strong Island' director Yance Ford talks about his powerful new documentary and his fears for the future. 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. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. What happened on that drive became part of literary history. Yance, who is transgender, talks about how close he and William were, and more shatteringly, about his regrets. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Its a talk rooted in black history, and 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? Strong Island opens up with the mother . Film Reviews. although the property taxes were high. 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 By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. government employees who could afford to be homeowners. I did William a brought up to believe that our principal job in life was to love each We depend on your memberships and donations. Dont talk back; above all, Jesmyn Wards Haunted Novel of the Gulf Coast. It would be When I spoke with Yance by phone, he was a mix of overwhelmed and composed. Yance Ford documents not just the murder but the continuing effects of the tragedy and how it tore apart his family. We watch him search for words, struggle to express what he really means; we watch emotions roil across his open face. 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. 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, directed by William's younger brother, Yance Ford, is a document of that murder and of the family that fractured in its wake. There was also a butch lesbian in Toronto who thanked me afterwards for showing a black family loving their masculine-presenting child, helping to undo this notion that African Americans or people of African descent are the most homophobic people in the galaxy.

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