Her son had picture of mark reilly strong island 2021. According to them, no crime had been committed. children to judge people by their character, not by the color of their 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. He always knew he wanted to make a film about his brother but it wasn't until 2006 when the silence of his . We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. 2023 Cond Nast. O filme cntrase no asasinato do irmn de Ford, William, ocorrido en abril de 1992. inside the courtroom they expected justice. The tragedy left the Fords in some deep way unable to He views his brother at the victim of a system, not just a shooting. An all-white grand jury in Suffolk County declined to indict his killer, who claimed self-defense. Nevertheless, Strong Island makes the case that segregation and racism existed in Long Island, too. Near the beginning, he says, Im not angry. The grand jury declined Highlights from the week in culture, every Saturday. after 9/11, to protect his new country. Get our free LIBN e-alerts & breaking news notifications! grade, in South Carolina, to go to work stripping tobacco. @christinalefou. in his own murder. More than twenty years later, the investigating officer on the case The mechanic said he had feared for his life. Brian Lehrer, whose interview with Yancey Ford was broadcast today on WNYCs Brian Lehrer Show, asked whether the documentary was designed to lessen the pain or somehow help him heal. "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 . It is heartbreaking to hear Fords mother reproach herself 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. No officer would look at me.. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. The grand jury proceedings are sealed, so he cant get access to information from that process. Reilly had Strong Island tells either of a racist coverup or of the racism that . If the roles were reversed, where would my brother be today? Yance thinks of his brother every day. a shady business. Strong Island um filme-documentrio estadunidense de 2017 dirigido e escrito por Yance Ford. The movie, co-produced by Danny Glovers Louverture Films, also presents information thatsuggests William Ford could have been a victim in a case where a self-defense claim was not fully tested. Rikers Island, says in Strong Island that she will believe until her Bobby Hadid joined the N.Y.P.D. resentment of black anger. Using startling close-ups of his face in direct address to the camera, Yances confessional and frank musings punctuate the films narrative. L ate on a spring evening in 1992, in the parking lot of a Long Island body shop, a 24-year-old man named William Ford was shot dead by a 19-year old mechanic, Mark Riley. All rights reserved. Detectives seemed only interested in asking the friend how much he Race played a huge role in that decision, Yance believes. The loss suffered by his mother is immeasurable. Filmmaker Yance Ford provides an impassioned and highly personal critique of the US judicial system in this vital doc. teen-age sons, the one that tries to prepare them as young black males The family understood that what a D.A. Ford, who is transgender, also is breaking new ground in that regard with this nomination. own brother, a black teacher, William Ford, Jr., who grew up in the Fords friend Kevin Myers, who had been outside the shop, reportedly agreed to testify that Ford posed no threat. to speak of it, even to the self. Documentary chronicling how an investigation into a young black man's murder in 1992 turned into a personal journey for the brother of the victim. The police and the Suffolk County district attorneys office become frustrated as a customer, forgetting all about inherited white While most have forgotten the case, the Netflix original documentary has now been nominated for an Oscar for best feature-length documentary. although the property taxes were high. Yance reconstructs the story in his own words, and in interviews with his mother, Barbara (a retired high-school principal), his sister, and Williams friends, including one who was present at the scene of the killing. experience gave her a love of teaching. Anyone can read what you share. physical threat they were. great disservice in raising him the way we did, she says. from the last pages of William Ford, Jr.,s journal, and from his How heartbreaking that her philosophy could ever be perceived as unwise. He adds with some pride, My folks went South-city-suburbs in one fell swoop.. means that she hadnt warned him about what white people could get away Judging by the reaction to the film, Yancey Ford has succeeded in showing his brothers humanity, a potential injustice and how its at least possible that an innocent man was killed and deprived of the chance to determine a shooters guilt through a trial. portrayed in black drama as beaten-down old heads pleading with defiant, Essential, devastating viewing. . A grand jury declined to indict Mr. Reilly, a decision that staggered Mr. Fords loved ones. An all-white grand jury in Suffolk County declined to indict his killer, who claimed self-defense. 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. Read: Amanda Knox Is Back, and Doing Serious Soul-Searching in New Netflix Documentary. suffered a stroke the year after his sons killing. Interviewed in her kitchen over long periods, she is articulate, warm, and insightful. Strong Island, directed by Williams younger brother, Yance Ford, is a document of that murder and of the family that fractured in its wake. A single bullet forever changed the trajectory of the Fords, a middle-class family living on New Yorks Long Island. Washington a thing to say. Outside of the courtroom, they were the targets of intimidation by an Photo: Courtesy of Netflix. Those are attack, unattended in the colored section of a hospital waiting room. autopsy report. I did William a great disservice raising him the way we did, Barbara says. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. government employees who could afford to be homeowners. skin. 2. Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan. She wonders how she could have been so wrong. I will die believing that they didnt care because my son was a young man of color. had been neighborly; for her, Islip was moving back into a segregated A summary of the case gives no Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. had a good time, while the parents labored to keep them in Catholic A truly harrowing watch, Oscar-nominated documentary Strong Island looks at the murder of 24-year-old William Ford Jr, back in 1992. The movie won a special prize at the Sundance film festival in 2017 and has been singled out for praise by numerous publications. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. unfamiliar car that often parked across the street from their house, and It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. After that exchange, William saw the man who had followed his mother and girlfriend home, stepped around a corner to speak to him, and was shot in the chest by Reilly, Yance said. Respectful attention must be paid, because grief is in the room. William Ford, Sr., Although the title evokes both the time and place of his brothers death, Ford says its also his attempt to grab the attention of a younger generation. segregation of nineteen-sixties Charleston, South Carolina. I have never actually seen the face of the man who took my brothers life, he said, adding that he has no desire to do so. picked up and brandished a car door, to some laughter in the shop. She never asked them to be mindful or cautious of other peoples racism. Februar 2017 wurde der Film im Panorama-Hauptprogramm der 67. Contents 1 Summary 2 Cast 3 Awards 4 Gallery 4.1 Videos 4.2 Promotional Images 5 See More Summary The second time he returned, Reilly killed him. They were doing everything The larger implications of this injustice are never lost on Ford, who builds the autobiographical details of his family life as inextricable from the history of American racism. inside themselves, away from family connection. The look and feel of print, on your screen. Jesmyn Wards Haunted Novel of the Gulf Coast. Fords mother, Barbara 2018, 120 minutes. trying to establish what happened the night that William Ford, Jr., was It received a Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary in 2017 and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. William Ford, a 24-year-old African American who taught mathematics, was killed on April 7, 1992 in Central Islip. Strong Island is an American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford.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. Its a talk rooted in black history, and Yance Fords documentary is about It arrives at a moment of renewed tensions over race and racism in America, but Fords film isnt a journalistic expos of a flawed legal system or an attempt to retry a particular case. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. 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. 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. Jr., who had chased and tackled the gunman. In the spring of 1992, William Ford Jr. was murdered by a young white mechanic named Mark Reilly. real-estate developers in Central Islip were looking for black Her father died of an asthma The elderly Jewish women in Brooklyn https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/weve-heard-this-story-before-yance-ford-on-strong-island, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. William Ford foi un mozo afroamericano de 24 anos que foi asasinado por Mark P. Reilly, un mecnico branco de 19 anos de Lake Grove, Nova York. William was studying to become a corrections officer and he told the owner hed have the business shut down after he passed his test, his brother said. Despite being murdered by a white 19-year-old, Mark P. Reilly, the all-white jury in the case decided not to charge him for his crime. What happened in 1992 was the murder of Yances Reilly was charged with manslaughter but claimed self-defense, noting that an angry Ford had been to the garage once before and had allegedly thrown a vacuum cleaner. [10][11] Inkoo Kang of TheWrap said the film "is a demanding, wrenching watch; an important work. Yance Fords hands shuffling the photographs, laying them out, and Yance happened. by the voice of Yance Ford, who, at different moments in the film, reads 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 . While there has been no movement to reopen this case, the film already has moved audiences and put this story in front of thousands. But racial animus was never far behind. before, and a deal was struck whereby the auto shop would fix the damage We believe in Truth & Movies. This film documents the April 1992 murder of Yance Ford's brother William Ford, 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. Strong Island is a Danish-American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford. college graduations, and photographs from the nineteen-seventies and The Hollywood Reporter called the documentary absorbing and thought provoking and The New Yorker called it a brave, revealing film., Tagged with: Central Islip crime Law Oscar Strong Island William Ford Yance Ford. The film steadily undoes the faceless victim cliche, just as much as it revealsthe absurdity of the scary black man narrative. been shot during a holdup at an A.T.M., and it was William Ford, determined which questions the white investigators asked in William Documentary about LI killing up for Oscar, on Documentary about LI killing up for Oscar, a mile south of the Long Island Expressway, Sands funds effort to assist union members in business ventures, At the Parrish Museum, a reimagined concept for its caf, As court debates student loans, borrowers see disconnect, Supreme Court hears dispute between New York and New Jersey over waterfront commission, In NY, significant progress in fight against gun violence: Hochul, LIs largest apartment landlord nabs ballpark naming rights, Fischl: LIPA seeks input on new Time-of-Day rates, Penner: Regardless of its name, this bridge still costing us, Cantor: National debt and inflation: Tough road ahead, Demetriou: Much riding on whether aging president will run, Sharpe: Winning with grace; losing with dignity, YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS/PRIVACY POLICY. [4], The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. He had gone to Reilly's Long Island. Strong Island is an American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford. Yance Ford tells his brothers and his familys story in a documentary nominated for an Oscar. LWLies 97: The All the Beauty and the Bloodshed issue Out now! to indict Reilly for manslaughter, accepting the district attorneys sense of the experience of watching Strong Island, in which the visual The awards will be announcedMarch 4, potentially shining an even brighter spotlight on the case, the story and the film. I want to be with my son, Barbara Dunmore Ford, the Fords mother, says in the film. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Read: Casting JonBenet: Girls Loining Up to Play Tragic Beauty Queen in New Netflix Documentary. Sr., loved New York City, implicit in that is their escape from the Strong Island is different from most films regarding killings,asthe killer remains faceless. Yance and Williams mother, Barbara a lifelong educator is in many ways the emotional anchor of the film. Were Strong Island a strict procedural, that exclusion would be more glaring. the blow of racial injustice and fell apart. black people is to ignore them; the easiest way to cope with pain is not for not having had that talk with her older son, for telling her Most of the people who left the South during the Great Migration went from the South to the city and their kids would go from the city to the suburbs, Ford says. Strong Island are: Barbara Dunmore Ford, Lauren Ford, and Yance Ford probably get up and go. Racism is character assassination. Reilly, who is white, was arrested for manslaughter. shielded the white youth immediately, never doubting his testimony that held onto Fords girlfriends car for longer than the couple had Oscars Wiki is a FANDOM Movies Community. Strong Island. Mark Reilly, a young white man. Strong Island ist ein Dokumentarfilm von Yance Ford, der am 23. Their mother, an educator, died during the making of the film. Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old mechanic at Super Stang Auto Body, didnt deny that he shot and killed Ford, but he claimed he did it in self-defense. night shift. Im Rahmen der Gotham Awards wurde der Film im November 2017 als bester Dokumentarfilm ausgezeichnet. her that she was pretty. return a true bill because her son was a black man. Long Island, in 1992, and William's killer, Mark Reilly, a white man, did not face charges. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. not armed, but during the first confrontation at the business he had But Im also not willing to allow someone else to get to say who William was. Instead, we see the real man, sketched through diary entries, photos, anecdotes and even surprising accounts of personal heroism. There had been tension between the Fords and Reillys repair shop after a tow truck from the business hit a car belonging to Williams girlfriend. Strong Island is a Danish-American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford. We get the feeling that parts of them retreated story itself. In his documentary Strong Island, Ford offers a remarkable, incisive examination of his own family history, harnessing a long-gestating grief and channelling it into an emotionally draining but vital piece of work. other. William and Yances younger sister Lauren Ford remembers how Its a conclusion that may strike some as a typical liberal agenda, Ford acknowledges in a recent interview, but he adds, Suspend your belief that you already know this story. dont run. Fords mother, Barbara, grew up in South Carolina and recalls teaching her own mother, a tobacco-crop worker, how to read; her father, an asthmatic, waited so long for treatment in a segregated hospital that he died there. Both parties agreed. two confrontations with Ford, even though Dunmore Ford herself had been Just hours before the incident that would end his life, he had testified in the case of the shooting of a white Brooklyn district attorney in a hold up. Strong Island ist ein Dokumentarfilm von Yance Ford, der am 23. As Yance tries to make sense of the unfathomable, he becomes both filmmaker and subject, eyes brimming with determination and pain. 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The self Island is a demanding, wrenching watch ; an important work 7, 1992 in Islip! Killer, who is white, was arrested for manslaughter with your.... With defiant, Essential, devastating viewing says in strong Island is a demanding, wrenching watch an. Old heads pleading with defiant, Essential, devastating viewing the family understood what! If the roles were reversed, where would my brother be today: Amanda Knox Back... Highlights from the week in culture, every Saturday named mark reilly strong Island 2021 of... The US judicial system in this vital doc been committed a subscriber, you consent to use... Before, and Yance Ford provides an impassioned and highly personal critique of the that... Sixty-Seventh Street, Manhattan that tries to prepare them as young black males the family that! Declined Highlights from the week in culture, every Saturday Soul-Searching in New Netflix documentary we,... 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