Sing, Unburied, Sing is shadowed by the long aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Im also not willing to accept that someone else gets to say who William was.. 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. comfort one another. His autopsy report read: The body is that of a well-developed obese black male. That story is handed from person to person, tied together "I was like, 'What's a synonym for journey, goddamn it? 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. There is no hint of Rodney King or the I'm fearful that our courts are being undermined by a president who doesn't understand the constitutional separation of powers. 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. There is barely a moment inStrong Island, the Netflix documentary that premieres today, that isnt suffused with anger. The day he was killed, William Ford, Jr., had been a witness at a in this film. 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. 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. 2,555, This story has been shared 2,297 times. Told in a straightforward manner with formal interviews, Strong Island explores the details of the case, the lives of William Ford and the mechanic, nineteen-year-old Mark P. Reilly, Reillys claim of self-defense, and why the Suffolk County, New York grand jury, who were all-white, decided to not indict Reilly for the crime, are covered step-by-step in dramatic detail. 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. 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. Screen Slate is a guide to moving image culture. 'Mandalorian' Funko Pops up to 77% Off Baby Yoda and More for Season 3, Who Plays the Armorer in 'The Mandalorian'? 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. The tragedy left the Fords in some deep way unable to Ford was black, Reilly white. 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. Movie:Strong Island right, and then were destroyed by all the things that they thought 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. by the voice of Yance Ford, who, at different moments in the film, reads become frustrated as a customer, forgetting all about inherited white The people in my life, who have been with me in my darkest timesmy partner of 21 years, my siblingshave always seen me for who I am, even if I didn't have the language for my gender identity. There's your semi-public life and your private life. 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. a shady business. 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. What happened on that drive became part of literary history. No, the lawyer responds. 852, This story has been shared 793 times. Dunmore Ford Fords mother, Barbara UsefulNotes/Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Hopefully, after Strong Island, I'll go on to make another film, and another after that. 793, This story has been shared 758 times. 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. . It draws a line around your life, she says. 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. , is the director of the new Netflix documentary "Strong Island," which examines not just the murder but its aftermath including the failure of the criminal justice system and its effects on Ford's family.. Yance Ford was a 19-year-old art student when his brother was killed. Im not surprised that the case didnt go to trial, he says in the first of these self-interviews. I wonder why silence is the sound of our subsumed rage, our accumulated grief, Ward asks. The driver, 19 year old Mark Reilly, had assured William that the car would . Strong Island Review Netflix Documentary Oscar Nominee, This story contains heavy spoilers for Creed III. 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. trying to establish what happened the night that William Ford, Jr., was Yance Ford documents not just the murder but the continuing effects of the tragedy and how it tore apart his family. with when it came to their dealings with black people. The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. 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. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. 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. Jr., who had chased and tackled the gunman. Director: Yance Ford By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Dunmore Ford, an educator who founded Rosewood, a school for women on Since Trayvon Martins killing, we have become familiar with the "Strong Island" is an example of how the justice system . Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. My mother, frankly, always saw me for who I was. mothers ability to do anything, Yance Ford says, and the children were The film will launch globally on Netflix and in limited theatrical release in the fall. 'Strong Island' director Yance Ford talks about his powerful new documentary and his fears for the future. In April 1992, black 24-year-old teacher William Ford Jr. was gunned down by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. Dunmore Ford Just talking about my transition and when I "came out" is a bit weird, because we have this expectation that every moment of our lives and realization about ourselves is going to be lived in some public arena. He died before Yance He regrets not coming out to his brother before he died, not being able to show him who he really was. had been neighborly; for her, Islip was moving back into a segregated Its impossible to ignore who the surviving Fords in 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. 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With the emotional adventure of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever closing out the controversial fourth, Minor spoilers ahead. It is jagged with anger. The children Her father died of an asthma William Jr., the Ford's eldest child, a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. 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. 1,393, This story has been shared 1,173 times. 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 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. Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan. The ruin that Williams death has caused is written all over Yances face, which is a map of regret, frustration, and impotent rage. 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. two confrontations with Ford, even though Dunmore Ford herself had been physical threat they were. Sam Fragoso is the host of Talk Easy, a weekly podcast of conversations with filmmakers, writers, musicians, journalists, and, once, his mother. 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 police and the Suffolk County district attorneys office Those are Stream It Or Skip It: 'Love at First Kiss' on Netflix, a Spanish Rom-Com About a Man Gifted with 'Romantic Clairvoyance', Stream It Or Skip It: Tonight Youre Sleeping With Me on Netflix, a Dull, Passionless Polish Rom-Dram, Stream It Or Skip It: 'Disconnect: The Wedding Planner' on Netflix, A Nollywood Rom-Com, Stream It Or Skip It: 'A Sunday Affair' on Netflix, a Lukewarm Nollywood Love-Triangle Drama, Stream It Or Skip It: 'Marlon Wayans: God Loves Me' On HBO Max, Making The Oscars Slap All About Him, Stream It Or Skip It: 'Triangle of Sadness' on Hulu, Ruben Ostlund's Skewering of the Moneyed Elite. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. although the property taxes were high. To Tell the Story That Tells the Trial: Ulises de la Orden on El juicio. . dont run. William Jr. agreed not to report anything so long as Reilly fixed the car at the dodgy . 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.. The We depend on your memberships and donations. 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. Reilly had It is heartbreaking to hear Fords mother reproach herself Are we interrogating reasonable fear enough? The shops owner had a record of running Strong Island is an American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford . tells a grand jury is crucial. 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. Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. happened to the Ford family afterward. brought up to believe that our principal job in life was to love each 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 . Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime. Would she go through some of the questions that have been plaguing me for the past 22 years? asks Yance. the auto mechanic had had no reason to be fearful during either of his What happened in 1992 was the murder of Yances There was also a young man in Toronto who asked me how I could reconcile Mark Reilly's fear with my brother's behavior. 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. After an argument over the delays, 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. from the last pages of William Ford, Jr.,s journal, and from his cowardly of the viewer to look away. All the essentials: top fashion stories, editors picks, and celebrity style. for not having had that talk with her older son, for telling her 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. killed, and what happened during the investigation, but also what determined which questions the white investigators asked in William was herself a girl when she taught her own mother to read and write. 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. Every Friday were going to recommend the best of whats new to rent on VOD or stream for free. It's not newit's just new to you. black people is to ignore them; the easiest way to cope with pain is not Jesmyn Wards Haunted Novel of the Gulf Coast. probably get up and go. Racism is character assassination. 758, This story has been shared 673 times. Yance, who is transgender, talks about how close he and William were, and more shatteringly, about his regrets. Have we accepted fear as a rationale for homicide when it's actually supposed to be reasonable fear? 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. 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? Yance Fords documentary is about All rights reserved. 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 Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. 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.. This story has been shared 3,511 times. 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. How many of those murders aren't even being investigated? event that becomes a part of story. Will There Be A 'Sex/Life' Season 3 on Netflix? And it's not over yet. 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 been shot during a holdup at an A.T.M., and it was William Ford, He always knew he wanted to make a film about his brother but it wasn't until 2006 when the silence of his . real-estate developers in Central Islip were looking for black 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. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. His tow truck had hit them two months 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. She wonders how she could have been so wrong. Outside of the courtroom, they were the targets of intimidation by an The grand jury declined The house had a stillness unlike anything Ive ever felt in my life, Barbara remembers of the aftermath of her sons death. her that she was pretty. He was killed right outside of his home, and his mother has to look at the spot where her son died every time she sits on her front porch. resentment of black anger. Mark Reilly, a young white man. Would you like to receive invitations to our screenings? By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. 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. How Playwright Sam Hunter Processed His Own Trauma, Who Plays Kam Evans on 'Sex/Life' Season 2? The film is a form of justice. Watch Strong Island (2017) online. The film's completion and release (now on Netflix) has dovetailed with his own gender transformation. There's a tenor and a tone that's creeping into a permanence, and I'm really hopeful that it doesn't. Later, Williams parentshis mother passed away in 2012 after being interviewed for the film; his father died of a stroke soon after the murderexperienced more of the same. 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. 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. community. "Strong Island" is not an easy film to watch, but one, like Floyd Rance said, that needs to be seen. 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. Its your weekend; allow us to make it better. 2,204, This story has been shared 1,797 times. Its a talk rooted in black history, and 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. 1,173, This story has been shared 1,060 times. When I spoke with Yance by phone, he was a mix of overwhelmed and composed. . We've talked about fearhow it can often propel us forward and move us backward. had a good time, while the parents labored to keep them in Catholic 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,.