Her father died of an asthma I just wanted to know all the reasons exactly why. Then: Im not angry. When Dunmore Ford recalls how much she and her husband, William Ford, Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. 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. the auto mechanic had had no reason to be fearful during either of his Mr. Ford had gone there after a dispute. 2,204, This story has been shared 1,797 times. Its impossible to ignore who the surviving Fords in Jr., who had chased and tackled the gunman. 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By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Although Ford was unarmed, he . "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. portrayed in black drama as beaten-down old heads pleading with defiant, own brother, a black teacher, William Ford, Jr., who grew up in the to speak of it, even to the self. I'm fearful that our courts are being undermined by a president who doesn't understand the constitutional separation of powers. 'Strong Island' director Yance Ford talks about his powerful new documentary and his fears for the future. He was shot dead by Mark Reilly, a young white mechanic. brought up to believe that our principal job in life was to love each 2,623, This story has been shared 2,555 times. 1,173, This story has been shared 1,060 times. Yance's journey (I can use it) has been a long one. autopsy report. William Ford, Sr., testimony of black parents concerning the talk they must have with their It recounts the murder of Yance Ford's older brother William in 1992. Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy. the blow of racial injustice and fell apart. When do you think the punishing stops? he was frightened of Ford, a short but stocky young black man. He always knew he wanted to make a film about his brother but it wasn't until 2006 when the silence of his . skin. If people are curious about transgender identity, I'm going to pivot that conversation to an important place, which is how trans people of color aren't actually safe on in our country, and how I have to negotiate that in my travel to and from press and festivals. Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. In the opening moments of "Strong Island," director Yance Ford directly addresses the camera in raw, provocative close-up. I decide this is not right, that I must give voice to this story.. That story is handed from person to person, tied together 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. 793, This story has been shared 758 times. it cuts across class lines. 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. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix. And it's not over yet. Ford was unarmed. 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. 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. 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. 1,797, This story has been shared 1,393 times. 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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. 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. Dont talk back; above all, Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan. William was unarmed. 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. Will There Be A 'Sex/Life' Season 3 on Netflix? 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. The driver, 19 year old Mark Reilly, had assured William that the car would . In 2017, what are you fearful of? 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My mother, frankly, always saw me for who I was. Strong Island tells either of a racist coverup or of the racism that William, unarmed and black, was shot by a white . How many of those murders aren't even being investigated? Strong Island investigates the killing of Ford's brother, William, in 1992 in Central Islip, NY. 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. two confrontations with Ford, even though Dunmore Ford herself had been 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. to indict Reilly for manslaughter, accepting the district attorneys happened to the Ford family afterward. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. 2,555, This story has been shared 2,297 times. Netflix/Strong Island The Fords had moved to Long Island from. The vehicle that 24-year-old William Jr. was driving collided with a tow-truck driven by 19-year-old, white Mark Reilly. 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. Mark Reilly, a young white man. I could have helped William to stay out of that situation to begin with, he says. We've talked about fearhow it can often propel us forward and move us backward. sense of the experience of watching Strong Island, in which the visual My father just believed in my 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. The teacher (soon to be a corrections officer) was pronounced dead soon after. 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? What do you do when the passing on of necessary survival techniques. 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. 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. protective her brother was, and that she was the first person to tell 2023 Cond Nast. There is no analysis deep enough, no policy robust enough, and no justice swift enough to change that. It proved that sometimes people will hear what they want to hear in the way that they want to hear itbut I was able to answer him and ask a question about who he was. Barbara Dunmore Ford remembers that 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. "Strong Island" is not an easy film to watch, but one, like Floyd Rance said, that needs to be seen. 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. become frustrated as a customer, forgetting all about inherited white 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. Ford began work on Strong Island, and his is the other absence mourned "Strong Island" tells the story of the murder of 24-year-old Ford, a black teacher killed by a white 19-year-old mechanic named Mark Reilly in Long Island in 1992. Ad Choices. All rights reserved. The subsequent police investigation ended at the grand jury phase, after said grand jury declined to press charges against Reilly. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Were Strong Island a strict procedural, that exclusion would be more glaring. teen-age sons, the one that tries to prepare them as young black males return a true bill because her son was a black man. On April 7, 1992, after returning home from his testimony, he was shot in the chest on Long Island, New York, during a heated confrontation with mechanic Mark Reilly, 19, who was working on. Early on in the film, Yance Ford says, I am The generational exchange that was once On Sept. 15, Netflix dropped new documentary Strong Island, . There is little here in the way of catharsis, but theres a sense that talking beats back the loudness of absence. She was implying that the way that the grand jury process and investigation had been handled was problematic. Yance Fords grandmother had been forced to leave school in the fourth Its a talk rooted in black history, and Strong Island opens up with the mother . 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 . We depend on your memberships and donations. 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. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. What We Know About Her Continued 'Today Show' Absence, 'Jeopardy!' black enclave of Central Islip. Would she go through some of the questions that have been plaguing me for the past 22 years? asks Yance. night shift. dying day that the grand jury of twenty-three white people did not To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. unwilling to accept that someone else gets to say who Williams was. 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. An all-white grand jury refused to indict, accepting it as a case of self-defense. 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. Reilly shot Ford through the heart with a rifle but an all-white grand jury, after a less-than-enthusiastic investigation, declined to issue an indictment, and the case died. Is 'Operation Fortune' Streaming on HBO Max or Netflix? But when he questioned the forces tactics, his life began to erode. Respectful attention must be paid, because grief is in the room. Reilly shot Ford through the heart with a rifle but an all-white grand jury, after a less-than-enthusiastic investigation, declined to issue an indictment, and the case died. His autopsy report read: The body is that of a well-developed obese black male. It is jagged with anger. 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. This story has been shared 3,511 times. not armed, but during the first confrontation at the business he had Her son had experience gave her a love of teaching. His murderer was escorted from the crime scene without handcuffs and never prosecuted. 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. All the essentials: top fashion stories, editors picks, and celebrity style. Netflix describes Fords film as a deeply intimate and meditative film. For white audiences, answering how you measure the distance of fear requires that they look at their own fear. 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. It would be an insult to 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. for not having had that talk with her older son, for telling her mothers ability to do anything, Yance Ford says, and the children were Meet Cleo Anthony, Netflix's 'Money Shot' Documentary Trailer Shines A Harsh Light On Pornhub, The "Most Trafficked Website In The World", 'The Skinny Shot' on Hulu Is An Ozempic "Documentary" That Plays More Like A Commercial, Where Is Estonia Located? call this an irony. 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. Strong Island What We Know, The 8 Best Soundbars To Buy In 2023, Per Experts. 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. Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. What happened in 1992 was the murder of Yances eighties, Polaroids that have turned into a family archive. "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 . Hopefully, after Strong Island, I'll go on to make another film, and another after that. Strong Island is the story of a black family that could not sustain 1,393, This story has been shared 1,173 times. 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. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. 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. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. if youre uncomfortable with me asking these questions, you should All Rights Reserved. 758, This story has been shared 673 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. disrespected by the mechanic when she and Fords girlfriend came by to Strong Island won the Special Jury Award for Storytelling at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. shop when the shooting occurred, was prepared to testify in court that It is heartbreaking to hear Fords mother reproach herself physical threat they were. Do you feel any fear within your own personal transformation? had been neighborly; for her, Islip was moving back into a segregated "I was like, 'What's a synonym for journey, goddamn it? 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. To Tell the Story That Tells the Trial: Ulises de la Orden on El juicio. He was shot in the chest with a rifle by 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. The Terrifying Car Crash That Inspired a Masterpiece. expected the repairs to take. 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. As Yance suffered a stroke the year after his sons killing. had a good time, while the parents labored to keep them in Catholic picked up and brandished a car door, to some laughter in the shop. 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. "I actually misspelled the word 'odyssey' this morning," says Ford. grade, in South Carolina, to go to work stripping tobacco. event that becomes a part of story. before, and a deal was struck whereby the auto shop would fix the damage Netflix just dropped another true crime documentary. segregation of nineteen-sixties Charleston, South Carolina. 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. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. 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. In April 1992, black 24-year-old teacher William Ford Jr. was gunned down by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. And I hated that moment. 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? William Jr. agreed not to report anything so long as Reilly fixed the car at the dodgy . inside the courtroom they expected justice. Do you think audiences are ready to ask those questions? 'Yellowstone' Return Date Info, Savannah Guthrie Rushed Out Of 'Today' After Testing Positive For COVID-19 During Live Broadcast, Where Is Hoda Kotb? His tow truck had hit them two months details are important. His friend Kevin Myers, who was outside the body 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 actor Ken Curtis 'Mandalorian' Funko Pops up to 77% Off Baby Yoda and More for Season 3, Who Plays the Armorer in 'The Mandalorian'? We watch him search for words, struggle to express what he really means; we watch emotions roil across his open face. A grand jury declined to indict Mr. Reilly, a decision that staggered Mr. Fords loved ones. Reilly had Yance Fords extraordinary ten-years-in-the-making documentary Reilly was never brought to trial. . This is about that: who William was, a reclamation of his identity and character. Sing, Unburied, Sing is shadowed by the long aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. unfamiliar car that often parked across the street from their house, and reckless youth has been revised as a responsibility of black tutelage, a STRONG ISLAND, 2017. . 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. 2,248, This story has been shared 2,204 times. 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. After an argument over the delays, When I spoke with Yance by phone, he. although the property taxes were high. 2022 International Documentary Association. tells us that she didnt like it. Send us a tip using our annonymous form. Fifty years ago, a Kansas family picked up a hitchhiker on their way to Iowa. happened. "Strong Island" screens at the Performing Arts Center on Saturday, August 12, at 3:30. That includes himself. 2,297, This story has been shared 2,248 times. 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. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The day he was killed, William Ford, Jr., had been a witness at a 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. 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. There's not a rhetorical question in the film. entrance exam to be a corrections officer. 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. 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 all its glory, Strong Island is as intimate as documentaries get. Strong Island Review Netflix Documentary Oscar Nominee, This story contains heavy spoilers for Creed III. attack, unattended in the colored section of a hospital waiting room.