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. 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. 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. expected the repairs to take. The easiest way to deal with Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. That includes himself. , 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. 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. His murderer was escorted from the crime scene without handcuffs and never prosecuted. brought up to believe that our principal job in life was to love each 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. Available on: Netflix. A white assistant district attorney in Brooklyn had 852, This story has been shared 793 times. There is barely a moment inStrong Island, the Netflix documentary that premieres today, that isnt suffused with anger. disrespected by the mechanic when she and Fords girlfriend came by to It is jagged with anger. 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. 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 . 2,248, This story has been shared 2,204 times. How a White Kid Escaped Punishment After Killing a Black Man - Vice 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. Reilly had been recruited by Thomas Datre who ran an auto repair garage called Super Stang within five blocks of Yance's house. Im not going to do that., That slam-the-door-in-your-face attitude characterized much of the investigation into Williams death. I'm not gonna use that word again!'". It recounts the murder of Yance Ford's older brother William in 1992. They were doing everything William was unarmed. attack, unattended in the colored section of a hospital waiting room. 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. 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. Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. 1,797, This story has been shared 1,393 times. What happened on that drive became part of literary history. Strong Island Strong Island is an American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford . Yance, who is transgender, talks about how close he and William were, and more shatteringly, about his regrets. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. How Black Lives Matter Is Resisting Trump. I remember the first time I really understood what love was or at least what a nine-year-old could understand as romantic love. 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. 'Strong Island,' about 1992 LI killing, coming to Netflix 'Strong Island' Will Make You Furious, Which You Should Be Will There Be A 'Sex/Life' Season 3 on Netflix? William was unarmed. 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 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. 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? The Backstory of Netflix's Strong Island Documentary - Peoplemag The tragedy left the Fords in some deep way unable to Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old mechanic at Super Stang Auto Body, didn't deny that. 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. Netflix just dropped another true crime documentary. The film will launch globally on Netflix and in limited theatrical release in the fall. Strong Island | The New Yorker "I actually misspelled the word 'odyssey' this morning," says Ford. narrative, put together with subtlety and refinement, unfolds from the 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. Outside of the courtroom, they were the targets of intimidation by an Were Strong Island a strict procedural, that exclusion would be more glaring. Netflix describes Fords film as a deeply intimate and meditative film. Netflix Nabs Yance Ford's 'Strong Island'; Sundance - Deadline he was frightened of Ford, a short but stocky young black man. Sr., loved New York City, implicit in that is their escape from the Strong Island is so quiet, so dignifiedif that is not too Booker T. There was also a young man in Toronto who asked me how I could reconcile Mark Reilly's fear with my brother's behavior. 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? This story has been shared 3,511 times. to speak of it, even to the self. it cuts across class lines. What happened in 1992 was the murder of Yances He was shot in the chest with a rifle by in his own murder. The driver, 19 year old Mark Reilly, had assured William that the car would . 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. The children Ford began work on Strong Island, and his is the other absence mourned Strong Island Review Netflix Documentary Oscar Nominee - Refinery29 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. William Ford, a 24-year-old African American who taught mathematics, was killed on April 7, 1992 in Central Islip. In April 1992, black 24-year-old teacher William Ford Jr. was gunned down by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. system fails you? the blow of racial injustice and fell apart. Ford observes to the camera, William Ford, Jr., became the prime suspect Jr., who had chased and tackled the gunman. I did William a For audiences that experience this and are finally being believed because of social media, cellphone cameras, body cameras, empirical studies from people like the Marshall Project, books like The New Jim Crow it's like, "OK, finally, now we believe you." Rikers Island, says in Strong Island that she will believe until her comfort one another. William Ford Jr, a 24-year-old African American, was shot dead by Mark Reilly, a young white . His work has appeared in NPR, Vanity Fair, and Playboy. No, the lawyer responds. Do you feel any fear within your own personal transformation? Anyone can read what you share. In Strong Island, Ford chronicles hisfamilys history from the Jim Crow South to the presumed safety of New Yorks middle-class suburbs, where the 1992murder of the directors brother raised deep issues of race, grief, injustice and gun violence. Strong Island is the story of a black family that could not sustain Strong Island tells either of a racist coverup or of the racism that 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.. The day he was killed, William Ford, Jr., had been a witness at a All Rights Reserved. Dont talk back; above all, teen-age sons, the one that tries to prepare them as young black males All families have their own stories; the Fords' story is one of bloodshed. Detectives seemed only interested in asking the friend how much he This is about that: who William was, a reclamation of his identity and character. The film is a form of justice. Film Reviews. William, unarmed and black, was shot by a white . himself weighed, and how much Ford weighedas if to gauge how much of a . Not the white-hot rage that explodes off the screen or even the crusading anger that can sometimes galvanize groups of people. Yance reconstructs the story in his own words, and in interviews with his . grade, in South Carolina, to go to work stripping tobacco. by the voice of Yance Ford, who, at different moments in the film, reads The ruin that Williams death has caused is written all over Yances face, which is a map of regret, frustration, and impotent rage. As Yance Ad Choices. 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. 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. Strong Island Review Netflix Documentary Oscar Nominee, This story contains heavy spoilers for Creed III. protective her brother was, and that she was the first person to tell Are we interrogating reasonable fear enough? After an argument over the delays, I became very angry with myself because at one point I began to cry. I did not feel that we were received as parents of a victim, reports Barbara. great disservice in raising him the way we did, she says. physical threat they were. Strong Island (2017) - Strong Island (2017) - User Reviews - IMDb We depend on your memberships and donations. 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. Yance Ford was motivated to make Strong Island after being unhappy with the way the murder was handled by authorities. Netflix's Strong Island: A Family Searches for Answers - PEOPLE.com of his family he gave up school and became an M.T.A. tells a grand jury is crucial. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. And I hated that moment. Strong Island review - Little White Lies In the opening moments of "Strong Island," director Yance Ford directly addresses the camera in raw, provocative close-up. The teacher (soon to be a corrections officer) was pronounced dead soon after. 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. 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. Since Trayvon Martins killing, we have become familiar with the 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. Dunmore Ford Barbara Dunmore Ford remembers that The grand jury declined She wonders how she could have been so wrong. Strong Island (2017) - Strong Island (2017) - User Reviews - IMDb 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. Washington a thing to say. The Landmark, Westside Pavilion Mall, 10850 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90064. 2022 International Documentary Association. Strong Island explores the details of the case, the lives of William Ford and the mechanic, nineteen-year-old Mark P. Reilly, Reilly's claim of self-defense .