STRONG ISLAND
DIRECTOR: Yance Ford
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.
For more info: visit www.louverturefilms.com
PRODUCTION FACTS
Duration: 107 mins
Premiere: 2017 (Sundance Film Festival)
Director: Yance Ford
Producers: Yance Ford, Joslyn Barnes
Co-producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen
Cinematography: Alan Jacobsen
Editor: Janus Billeskov Jansen
Executive Producers: Danny Glover, Susan Rockefeller, Bertha Foundation, Michel Merkt, Laura Poitras
Executive Producers for POV: Simon Kilmurry, Chris White, Justine Nagan
Co-executive Producer for POV: Cynthia López
Sound Mixer: Tony Volante
Sound Editor: Dan Timmons
Original Music:Hildur Gudnadottír & Craig Sutherland
Editor: Shannon Kennedy
Supported by;
Danish Film Institute, film consultant Cecilia Lidin
DR K Denmark, Editor Flemming Hedegaard Larsen
Produced by; Yanceville Films & Louverture Films
In co-production with Final Cut for Real, American Documentary - POV
In association with JustFilms - Ford Foundation, Chicken & Egg Pictures
FESTIVALS
WORLD PREMIERE: Sundance Film Festival 2017 - US competition
Berlin Film Festival 2017 - Panorama Dokumente
AWARDS
Nominated for Academy Awards 2018 - Best Documentary Feature
2018 Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking
Sundance Film Festival 2017 - U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling
Frameline San Francisco Int. LGBTQ Film Festival – Best Documentary
Cinema Eye Honors – Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking + Outstanding Achievement in Direction + Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film.
Full Frame Doc FF– Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award
Full Frame Doc FF - Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award
Gotham Awards – Best Documentary
Montclair Film Festival - Bruce Sinofsky Prize for Documentary Feature
Sheffield DocFest – Tim Hetherington Award
Black Film Critics Circle Awards – Best Documentary
IDA Awards 2017 - Emerging Filmmaker Award
Frameline 41, San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival 2017 - Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Documentary
Contact
General Inquiries
info(at)final-cut.dk
International Sales:
Doc & Film International, contact: DANIELA ELSTNER
13, rue Portefoin
75003 Paris, FRANCE
www.docandfilm.com
T: +33 1 42 77 89 65
E: d.elstner@docandfilm.com
NORTH AMERICAN SALES
Cinetic Media, contact: LINZEE TROUBH
555 West 25th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10001 USA
www.cineticmedia.com
T: +1-212 204 7979
E: linzee@cineticmedia.com
PRESS
RYAN WERNER
COURTNEY OTT
Cinetic Marketing
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New York, NY 10001 USA
www.cineticmedia.com
T: +1-212 204 7983
E: ryan@cineticmedia.com
E: courtney@cineticmedia.com
IMPACT & OUTREACH
SONYA CHILDRESS
Director of Partnerships and Engagement
Firelight Media
2090 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.,Suite 202
New York, NY 10027 USA
T: +1-212.222.1068
E: sonya@firelightmedia.org