Certain filmmakers may loathe the streaming giants Netflix for what they are saying there are doing to their craft. One thing you can’t deny is their eye for powerful documentaries and Strong Island will be the next to premiere. When it comes true crime they have delivered some of the best and Yance Ford‘s movie looks like another must watch.
It’s a deeply personal story for the director, the story of the death of his own brother William Ford Jr. A young man let down by the justice system of America, a movie that doesn’t try to catch a killer but answer those question justice never answered. Next month the movie is set for release and today Netflix release the official trailer. Deeply moving, powerful story…
“The police had turned my brother into the prime suspect in his own murder.”
It’s no easy task making a movie, but when it’s family the road to completion will always be even difficult. It’s a heartbreaking journey that took 10 years to make, with Ford also narrating.Injustice, racism, closure, Strong Island will look to answer those questions.Sadly 25 years on these are questions many families still trying to answer. This movie looks a must not just for fans of true crime but also civil rights history.
In April 1992, on Long Island NY, William Jr., the Ford’s eldest child, a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. Director Yance Ford chronicles the arc of his family across history, geography and tragedy – from the racial segregation of the Jim Crow South to the promise of New York City; from the presumed safety of middle class suburbs to the maelstrom of an unexpected, violent death. It is the story of the Ford family: Barbara Dunmore, William Ford and their three children and how their lives were shaped by the enduring shadow of racism in America.
A deeply intimate and meditative film, 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.
Strong Island will premiere globally exclusively on Netflix including The UK and Ireland on 15th September.
