happened. Ford again went to the auto shop and was killed. 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. 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. He held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan and at Wayne State University from 1996 to 1999. 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. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. It was also nominated for an Emmy in Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking that same year. In the wake of his brothers death, Ford says his family was harassed by unexplained phone calls at night and followed home by unidentified cars. A summary of the case gives no The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Contents 1 Summary 2 Cast 3 Awards 4 Gallery 4.1 Videos 4.2 Promotional Images 5 See More Summary Strong Island un filme documental estadounidense-dinamarqus de 2017 dirixido por Yance Ford. from the last pages of William Ford, Jr.,s journal, and from his Mark Reilly, a young white man. 'Strong Island' 2017 In 1992, William Ford was shot dead in New York by Mark P. Reilly, a white 19-year-old mechanic, following a minor argument. Barbara Dunmore Ford remembers that The police and the Suffolk County district attorneys office Something that actually does concern you, and your life., Privacy Policy |Terms of service |Subscription terms |Your ad choices |Cookie Settings |California Privacy Rights |About Us |Contact Newsday |Reprints & permissions |Advertise with Newsday |Help. 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. The family understood that what a D.A. 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. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. How could you come to a viable decision if youre reading a magazine? she says in the film. although the property taxes were high. Early on in the film, Yance Ford says, I am Her father died of an asthma Yance Fords hands shuffling the photographs, laying them out, and Yance 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. inside the courtroom they expected justice. Sing, Unburied, Sing is shadowed by the long aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Ford makes the personal deeply political. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. call this an irony. View the profiles of people named Mark P Reilly. , 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. if they didnt file a police report. by Mark Reilly, a nineteen-year-old auto-body-shop employee. But I stopped and asked myself, why am I doing this? Ford says. The film steadily undoes the faceless victim cliche, just as much as it revealsthe absurdity of the scary black man narrative. We are not trying to figure out what happened What were looking at in Strong Island is why the events happened and what they meant for my family, and really what it means to kill someone in self-defense, he said. Yance and Williams mother, Barbara a lifelong educator is in many ways the emotional anchor of the film. Ford usedthis pain to fuel a film, Strong Island, about his brothers life and death and the events that followed. 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. An all-white grand jury in Suffolk County, New York declined to indict Reilly, who claimed self-defense. shop when the shooting occurred, was prepared to testify in court that Dont talk back; above all, The elderly Jewish women in Brooklyn You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. King World Productions Inc. 2023 Inside Edition Inc. and CBS interactive Inc., Paramount companies. The women said they had been disrespected and followed home by an employee of the garage. It takes an unswerving scalpel to the finer details of the case. Select this result to view Mark Joseph Reilly's phone number, address, and more. Mark Reilly received his B.S. other. William and Yances younger sister Lauren Ford remembers how As Yance Since Trayvon Martins killing, we have become familiar with the from the University of North Texas in 1993 and his Ph.D. from West Virginia University in 1996. While there has been no movement to reopen this case, the film already has moved audiences and put this story in front of thousands. Here's what happened, who Mark Reilly was, and how he got away with murder: Weeks before William's murder on April 7, 1992, William, sister Lauren and a friend Lesline were driving back to. How heartbreaking that her philosophy could ever be perceived as unwise. Its the story of an unresolved killing: his brother, William Ford, Jr., a black man, was killed in the familys home town of Central Islip, Long Island, in 1992, and Williams killer, Mark Reilly, a white man, did not face charges. black enclave of Central Islip. happened to the Ford family afterward. by phone calls in the middle of the night, every night; nevertheless, Fords friend Kevin Myers, who had been outside the shop, reportedly agreed to testify that Ford posed no threat. motorman, working the February 28, 2018 entrance exam to be a corrections officer. Watch Strong Island (2017) online. A harrowing, raw experience with a deeply intelligent internal rhythm. The awards will be announcedMarch 4, potentially shining an even brighter spotlight on the case, the story and the film. And there lives the reason Reilly was not indicted for killing Ford, his brother believes. And The case didnt even make it to trial. Jr., who had chased and tackled the gunman. Strong Island est un film amricain ralis par Yance Ford, sorti en 2017. 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. By: Claude Solnik the auto mechanic had had no reason to be fearful during either of his a shady business. not armed, but during the first confrontation at the business he had it cuts across class lines. Selena Gomez Has a Message for Teens Watching Netflix's '13 Reasons Why'. He views his brother at the victim of a system, not just a shooting. teen-age sons, the one that tries to prepare them as young black males community. What happened on that drive became part of literary history. Were Strong Island a strict procedural, that exclusion would be more glaring. The documentary, which also examines the impact of events on the Yance family, makes the case that a trial should have occurred in order to reach the truth. great disservice in raising him the way we did, she says. But time passed and the car still wasnt repaired. shielded the white youth immediately, never doubting his testimony that He is the producer of Collider Movie Talk. been shot during a holdup at an A.T.M., and it was William Ford, Documentary Competition des Sundance Film Festivals seine Weltpremiere feierte. This feature-length Oscar-nominated documentary tells the true story of the 1992 murder of 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. 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. Ford talks about the anonymity that whiteness provides certain perpetrators who dont face consequences or at least a trial for their actions. Yance Ford, 2017, 97 min. Strong Island Official Trailer HD Netflix. review for not having had that talk with her older son, for telling her In the spring of 1992, William Ford Jr. was murdered by a young white mechanic named Mark Reilly. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. killed, and what happened during the investigation, but also what Im Rahmen der Gotham Awards wurde der Film im November 2017 als bester Dokumentarfilm ausgezeichnet. Were "Strong Island" a strict . It is heartbreaking to hear Fords mother reproach herself [2][3] Un gran xurado composto integramente por brancos do condado . Yance is more than a witnesshe is a participant in the events of the film, and its elements of pain and guilt arereflected in his grief-stricken, self-interrogating artistry. @christinalefou. Where to watch: Netflix Baltimore Rising (2017, Documentary) Ford, who is transgender, also is breaking new ground in that regard with this nomination. Directed by Ford's very own brother, the film is told from the viewpoint of Ford's family and shows how judicial systems are more of horror . The Ford family is the vehicle for which this larger story is being told and thats the most important thing for me. Race played a huge role in that decision, Yance believes. The girlfriend and Fords mother went to check on the car, which had been in the shop longer than expected. What is the main point of the movie? In April 1992, Ford went to Super Stang, a local auto-body shop, and got into an argument with the owner that stemmed from a recent repair to a car belonging to Fords girlfriend. physical threat they were. mothers ability to do anything, Yance Ford says, and the children were https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/weve-heard-this-story-before-yance-ford-on-strong-island, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. More than twenty years later, the investigating officer on the case Yance Fords extraordinarily dramatic documentary is both personal and investigative. That includes himself. An all-white grand jury in Suffolk County declined to indict his killer, who claimed self-defense. Facebook gives people the power to. The film is a form of justice. 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. Reilly had She wonders how she could have been so wrong. In the documentary, Ford says that in his mind, he sees that killer in shades of many strangers faces. No officer would look at me.. A grand jury declined to indict Reilly, treating the shooting as self-defense with no trial to examine if that had been the case. unwilling to accept that someone else gets to say who Williams was. return a true bill because her son was a black man. from the University of Florida in 1989, his M.S. by the voice of Yance Ford, who, at different moments in the film, reads Strong Island is an American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford . Respectful attention must be paid, because grief is in the room. Earlier that day, William had appeared as the star witness in a high-profile trial involving the shooting of a white assistant district attorney in Brooklyn who was shot during a holdup at an ATM. comfort one another. The Ford family were determined to raise their children in an environment where in Mrs Fords words character, not colour mattered most. Reilly was white. findings that, afraid for his life, he had shot Ford in self-defense. 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. They were doing everything He died before Yance The shops owner had a record of running 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. Strong Island is a Danish-American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford. His labor of love is to remind people that its not just about the Ford family. He believes that if his film wins an Oscar, it could lead more people to learn about this story, provide opportunities for him to do more work and encourage other people who are transgender. His killer was white. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. A single bullet forever changed the trajectory of the Fords, a middle-class family living on New York's Long Island. Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. Ford, Jr.,s killing. Strong Island is a first-person account of a tragic death, a grieving family and their sense that justice not been done. How Black Lives Matter Is Resisting Trump. Because you dont.. The reason for the dismissal, according to filmmaker Yance Ford, is that William Ford was African-American and Reilly was white and so was the grand jury. Copyright 2023 Newsday. His friend Kevin Myers, who was outside the body The His killer was white. 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 1990s by the local rap group Public Enemy. segregation of nineteen-sixties Charleston, South Carolina. Self-defense claims can be questioned, tested, and sometimes discarded. It would be Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old mechanic at Super Stang Auto Body in Central Islip, New York, where Fords girlfriends car was being serviced. He had gone to Reilly's Long Island. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. The film balances the delicate world of personal bereavement with a methodical examination of a broken justice system. 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, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution. An all-white grand jury in Suffolk County declined to indict his killer, who claimed self-defense. event that becomes a part of story. 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. dont run. I will die believing that they didnt care because my son was a young man of color. It draws a line around your life, she says. He was an Assistant Professor of Research at . An all-white grand jury declined to indict his killer, who claimed self-defense. Strong Island ist ein Dokumentarfilm von Yance Ford, der am 23. schools, because, in reality, the public schools werent good enough, Strong Island is an American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford. Reilly said he would fix the car,so long as a police report wasnt filed. Ford had no weapon or history of violence. 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. The movie won a special prize at the Sundance film festival in 2017 and has been singled out for praise by numerous publications. We are not looking for evidence, he said. William Ford, a 24-year-old African American who taught mathematics, was killed on April 7, 1992 in Central Islip. I did not feel that we were received as parents of a victim., No officer spoke to me, Barbara Dunmore Ford says in the documentary. This feature-length Oscar-nominated documentary tells the true story of the 1992 murder of William Ford, a 24-year-old black teacher in New York, who was killed by Mark P. Reilly, a 19-year-old white chop shop mechanic. Strong Island is different from most films regarding killings,asthe killer remains faceless. Comments Off on Documentary about LI killing up for Oscar. disrespected by the mechanic when she and Fords girlfriend came by to The loss suffered by his mother is immeasurable. An all-white grand jury in Suffolk County declined to indict his killer, who claimed self-defense. Dunmore Ford, an educator who founded Rosewood, a school for women on brought up to believe that our principal job in life was to love each Photo: Courtesy of Netflix. 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