STRONG ISLAND
Yance Ford interrogates the 1992 murder of his brother, which went unprosecuted, and its personal aftermath.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
Sundance Program Description:
In 1992, filmmaker Yance Ford’s brother William was shot and killed by a 19-year-old white mechanic after a common complaint about a car repair spiraled violently out of control. The mechanic claimed he fired in self-defense, and though William was unarmed, he quickly became the prime suspect in his own death. When an all-white grand jury set the shooter free, Yance’s family retreated into a silent fury. Twenty years later, STRONG ISLAND invents a startling cinematic language to penetrate this devastating collision of paralysis, grief, fear, racism, and injustice.
As much as it is an outward-facing investigation of William’s case, this film is a radically intimate, lovingly layered inquiry into the emotional valences and internal geometries of the Ford family and their loss. Exacting aesthetic choices transport us directly into Yance and his mother’s subjective experience, acknowledging the painful reality that some things will always be elusive and unknowable. STRONG ISLAND dismantles and reimagines the wreckage left in the wake of William’s murder, bringing us as close as art can come to the blistering truth.
Some Background:
Director/Producer:
This is Ford’s directorial debut after previously serving as a series producer on POV. The film has been supported by the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program and the MacArthur Foundation, among several other funders.
Producer:
Past Sundance docs:
CAMERAPERSON (2016, consulting producer)
CONCERNING VIOLENCE (2014)
THE HOUSE I LIVE IN (2012, executive producer, US Documentary Grand Jury Prize Winner)
THE BLACK POWER MIX TAPE 1967-1975 (2011)
TROUBLE THE WATER (2008, executive producer, Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize Winner)
Barnes is Co-Founder and COO of Danny Glover’s Louverture Films.
Co-Producer:
Final Cut for Real’s Sørensen notably previously produced the Oscar-nominated THE ACT OF KILLING and THE LOOK OF SILENCE. She also co-produces Sundance 2017 World Cinema Narrative entry THE NILE HILTON INCIDENT.
Executive Producers:
Past Sundance docs:
CONCERNING VIOLENCE
THE HOUSE I LIVE IN
THE BLACK POWER MIX TAPE 1967-1975
TROUBLE THE WATER
The acclaimed actor produces under his Louverture Films banner, for which he is Co-Founder and CEO.
Past Sundance docs:
CONCERNING VIOLENCE
Rockefeller is an entrepreneur, filmmaker, and philanthropist.
The prolific Monaco based producer is behind such recent narratives as TONI ERDMANN, ELLE, and AQUARIUS, as well as the 2017 Sundance Kids title MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI. This is his first Sundance credit.
Past Sundance docs:
SPEAKING IS DIFFICULT (short) (2016)
PEACE IN THE VALLEY (short) (2016)
THE LAW IN THESE PARTS (2012)
THE OATH (2010, director)
The Academy Award winner for CITIZENFOUR also directed a new short at the festival this year, PROJECT X.
Editor:
Past Sundance docs:
PUTIN’S KISS (2012)
BURMA VJ (2009)
GARDEN (2004)
THE PURIFIED (2003)
Why You Should Watch:
Ford’s carefully composed and starkly personal film simmers with a quiet anger as it dissects the impact of William’s death on a hitherto sheltered middle-class African-American family. That this powerful film remains timely nearly 25 years after the murder is a searing indictment of the persistence of racial biases in American society and in its criminal justice system.
More Info:
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